The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-28

courses in mathematics. languages, chemistry or history. chosen m accofa- anee with his general view or ms prop- able junior courses.
 It will be noted not that tnls is flat contradiction of the basis of the free elective system. but that the sub feets selected lie at the foundation of literature and science. and are in them selves both disciplinary and stimulat- ing. Here, then, Is the basis or the balanced curriculum first, the breadth of foundation; second. thorough mental development.
 r Third Year Courses.
 Tn the third, or junior year, the stu dent is called upon to elect his courses from among those provided in the fol- lowing fashion: The upper class cours- [ es are grouped in four divisions and | subdiveded into eleven departments. as follows:
 First-Division of philosophy con taining the departments of (a) philoso- phy. tb) history. politics and econe- i mics.
 second--Division of art and archeolo- gy
 Third--Division of language and lit 1 erature. departments of ta) English,
 (b) classics, Co modern languages
 Fourth--Diyision of mathematics ana science, departments of (a) mathemat- ics. (b) physics, (c) chemistry, td) ge- ology le) biology.
 From the above the electing junior much choose five courses, two Tn some one department. one in the same dlvis- i ion, one in a different division and one anywhere he p1eases. Thus he Nmay elect either three or four courses in one division (but not five). or he may take three in one division and two Tn one department of another division, giving additional elasticity to his sen for course elections; or he may take three courses in his main divison and scatter his other two. But he thor | oughiy understands that he cannot take courses in senior ys ar which are not naturally seduent to his junior work I At this point the balanced elective system Is fully apparent as a weil-ma- l tufed plan fer ensuring drill. breadth | and coherence and a profitable use Of | the students time with the least pos sible sacrifice of individuality and elas- 1 ticity Here again will be noted the 1 positive stand against any system 1 which renders possible the election or l courses so non-sequent as to make plan of educational anarchy, or wnfcn l sacrifices all else, to the conserving ot l individualism, ignoring that large pro l portion of students who are not vivid- l ly conscious of any individual bent i worth conserving. Under the balanced curriculum he picks from schemes or l related subjects, previously systema- 1 tized by the university, so that ne I specializes in junior year in either three I or four courses, but with counter l nafse in either one or two courses l which dfyerge from his main division. 1 He cannot select five miscellaneous anu unrelated courses, nor five courses | which will constitute absolute speciah-
 zation.
 Seniors Freedom of Choice.
 The trend of the plan thus far IS | from general to special--from the fun damentals prescribed for the freshmen, l through the limited electives permitten to the sophomores, to the guided eiec- tfyes of junior year. The. freedom IS l greater to the senior, upon whom 1 there Is no restriction except that ne l must take all the studies of some one l denartnent. and that his selections l r,l,st he warranted by his junior year l work Seniors take five courses, anu as no department offers more than three at one time. the other two may be m I or out of the division Tn Which the l main department lies.
 I These details are necessary to an un- derstanding of Princeton's definite ana I individual position upon tnls paslo
 problem. Recognizing that the stereo- I typed courses of the past are opsolste' she has flatly refused to swing rom l extreme Of too TlBlQ law bO tif1N "a
 no law at all Starting from the prem l ises that the province of the true uni
 versity. as distinct from the technlcal
 school is the discipline of the nina ana
 training of the faculties, as well as to
 lay the foundation of broad culture
 she demands that the work or ner
 younger students shall be formative Las well as international. She assumes
 frankly enough, that freshmen and | aophon,ores are toe immature Tor any
 but a very restricted elective system
 Hence these studies are not only ar
 ranged on a comprehensive basis. but
 large place Is given to those branches
 the teaching of which was attained the
 greatest exaetness and accuracy
 through long experience. namely. 1 mathematics and the classics.
 whether the plan could not profit
 ably give more freedom to some classes Of students-the classes which would
 find great advantages in free elect I've system--is fairly open to discussion.
 Such a distinction Is made in the Eng | fish universities by separating the can | didates for pass degrees from the
 candidate for "honors"-the latter re-
 ceivlng much more privilege and free r dom that the former.
 With the remodelling of study cour- Z ses has come modification in the
 meaning of degrees awarded in the di-
 rection of greater definiteness. Princeton Degrees.
 Princeton has never been an insti-
 tuition where the degree of doctor Of
 philosophy was slightly confused with i doctor of veterinary surgery, but 1t ! was felt that her old degree of B. s. , was misnomer when given to men , who took practically B. A. courses. ex. cepting Greek. Neither was there any
 idea of eeaslng to require Greek for the
 B. A. degree. President Wilson says:
 "we were assured by experience that , students drilled in the full classical training came to us better prepared for
 success in college tasks than those who , had taken only Latin and substituted
 modern language for Greek; and we : were clear in our judgment that the old historical degree of batchelor of arts