The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-02


There are two traditional conceptions !
Of university-thc German and the
English The German regards IL primarily
as a group of professional schools 1t has
its three faculties devoted to the
learned professions of theology. law
and medicine: and a fourth faculty, which
until the last century was a sort Of col
lege of arts, intended 10 prepare the pupil
for the professional schools. but which
has now became a faculty of philosophy,
intended for the training of teachers and
investigators To an institution which
has these four faculties the German gives
the name university: TO one which does
not possess them he denies the right to
the name.
Opposed to this is the English con-
ception. which takes little or no account
of professional training; which regards
the university as a place where. TO quote
the words of President Wilson. many
are trained to the love Of letters and
science, and few to their successful pur-
suit" A college or group of colleges
which does this is regarded as obtaining
thereby The right to the title university.
Professional schools naturally tend TO
group themselves about such colleges;
but in the opinion of those who hold the
English view, they are mere incidents Of
university development rather than its
essential features
do not believe that either of these
views in its extreme form, is correct
would not indeed, deny the title uni
versitv to an institution which was sue
eessfully conducted either on the old
English model OF on the old German
model: but I believe that in each case II
would fall short of the fun realization Of
what a university can be and ought 10
be.
If it consists almost entirely of profess
sional schools. it tends to lose that spirit
of fdeaIism which is important at all
times. and never more so than in America
today. It becomes practical in the bad
sense of the word rather than in the
good one. If a university, in its efforts
to be practical. simply adapts means to
ends in education and shows its students
how to do public service. it does IN
bounded good But if it goeS one step
farther and confines its attention to
those things which will bring visible,
material return. it does equally IN
bounded harm. It is essential to the tu-
ture of the nation that there should be
men who look at the service rather than
the return-rnen with whom things of
sentiment count for just as much as
things of business; and it is perhaps the
highest duty of the university, in its
teaching Of science and letters. of moral
itv and of religion. TO cultivate this way
of looking at things. If it fails to do
this it will, in an old country like Ger
many. become imbued with the spirit of
officialism; in a new country like Amer
| lea with that of cOmmercialism-
n s@FT he
English type is likely to fall into ideaIism
I in the bad sense of the world. If our
pursuit of idealism means that we are
inspired by noble and far-reaching mo-
tives. it is good. If it means that We
do not know how to give effect to these
motives in everyday work, il is bad
| Without the infusion of a strong element
| Of professional study into university life,
| this danger becomes a serious one. It
| is the duty of a university TO teach disin-
! terested service If its atmosphere be
4 comes exclusively professional it teaches
service but not disinterestedness; if il
becomes exclusively nOn-prOfessional il
| teaches disinterestedness but not service.
1t is our problem to combine the two
Fortunately, the American university
ideal. so far as it has been formed, recOg-
niZes the need of this combination There
was indeed a time, a hundred years ago,
when there was a tendency to copy the
English collegiate organiza ton as closely
! as we could. This was period when pro-
fessional schools were founded wherever
they might happen to grow up. Even If
| they existed in the same locality
| with the colleges, they We're more
or less out of connection and
touch herewith Those isolated colleges
| and isolated professional schools did good
work in their day. But the advantage on
| either side arising from a closer connec-
ton became so obvious that the larger
| colleges, especially in cities. formed a
sort of nucleus about which professional
schools gathered in closer union BY the
| middle of the nineteenth century this
| combination of college and professional
| schools had become established as the
! typical American university. To this type
all our leading NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
| tiOnal or general public or private
tended sooner or later to gravitate. We
may regard it as settled by the logic Of
/ history that the American university fol
the present az any rate. shall have both
its school of arts as a center Of ideaIisn
and its several professional schools a.
means of practical realization of tn,
ideals.
But there are equally important Ques
tons, bearing on the future Of the pro
| fessionaI schools which are by no means
thus settled. One of these deals with III,
| proper method Of coordination betweeI
| the different parts of q university Shall
| We regard the college as a sort Of pre-
paratory department, through which al
! should if possible be made TO pass befOr
! they enter the professional SchOOts2 o
shall we regard the different depart
mentS, collegiate and professional. as eX
! listing side by side? For some kinds o
| professional training this question an
| swers itself No institution, so far as
| am aware. tries to require a previous col
| lege course as preliminary to taking VI
| the study of engineering or technology
| Our scientific schools furnish excellen
courses Of training for these profession
wherein the academic and the technica
elements are skilfully cOmbined-course
| intended to give to the student breadt
, | of interest, while at the same time pre-
pairing him for the special needs of hi
subsequent career. II is only for the 50
law and medicine that the preliminar
. / course in college is anywhere REQUIRE
as an essential / believe that this re
/ Quirement is a mistake 1t involves a
I effOct to perpetuate a distinction Whic
; is contrary to the spirit of American IN
stitutiOns. Its tendency Is to shut on
I boys whose fathers have no money frOI
I the practice of these c3lltngS- i also De
lieve that il will tend to lower the stand
2 ard of our collegiate degrees. For If "
didates for law or medicine we snail Q
. / under a constant pressure to reduce IN
requirement for that degree to the min
? mum which il is easy to exact OF al
; | professional schools be fixed as high
I may be necessary; but let US not IN lie
D / of such real requirement. insist on ORE
2 liminary residence at a collegiate instltt