The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-28
THE COURSES
 AT PRINCETON
STUDIES FOR BACHELORS DE- CRIES AT NEW JERSEY COL
 LEGE.
The Balanced sCurricnIum--The Eicc- tive system Not Carried To
 An Extreme.

Every educational institution must map out its work with it's main pur- pose clearly in view. The professional. technical and trade school, and, in the main. the public school. aim directly and immediately to fit students qnick- ly for gainful pursuits. Hence, they must teach chiefly. and fin large par' superficially, the application Of estap- lished principles and processes Dy methods through which their pupils may soonest obtain the desired result, Their aim is frankly utiiitarian anu any broader and deeper results arg more or less incidental
 The purpose of the true university is broader. Primarily 1t aims to tram the student in the efficient use or ms own faculties more than to suppiy special information in narrow 1ieid; to lead the mind to take a view or m .ne relations of human knowledge to hu- human life, from a higher standpoint than training in some few special processes can provide.
 Such a basis, of course. affords the best possible foundation for subsequent specialization: since, other things being equal. he is the best man who has the broadest Knowledge of the principals with which he has to deal, and whose powers overlap the technique of his daily business.
 It seems necessary to point out this distinction, because the true character of distinctive university training has been largely obscured through the mingling of technical and university courses at many of our largest insttu- ticns.
 Present Diversity of Methods.
 Fifty years ago the courses leading to the B. A. degree were narrow but definite. Of late years there has been a great diversity of methods in uni- versity education proper, accompanied by much confusion and doubtful ex- pertinent. In some of the attempts at breadth and elasticity there has been such loss of definiteness that the sig nificance of this historical degree has been greatly impaired. and, in the opin- ion of many. the partial or total aban- donmeut Of prescribed courses has led to results almost grotesque.t From the mass of experiment and compromise have emerged two systems which are logical and comprehensible--the free elective, which has received it's most notable and complete illustration at Harvard, and the balanced elective. which Is the basis of the curriculum at Princeton.
 The free elective system Gas its name implies) is based upon the theory that the business of the college is to provide courses of instruction; that of the stu dent to select and profit by them. The chief exponent of this saytem frankly states that the entering freshman best knows what he ought to study" It is claimed that absolute freedom of choice develops individuality to an extent im- possible by any other method, and it must be admitted that for the class of men who hunger for knowledge, and who have ability, determination and a distinct intellectual bias, the system has great and unique advantages. Ii has resulted that in the wealth and va riety of it's courses, Harvard College has surpassed any other institution in America. As applied to the average sof mass of students, the system seems a practical assertion that the greatest mental development follows the line of least resistance, which is hardly a ten able position as to either the moral or physical world Its advocates, how ever. would probably hesitate to enun- ciate this as a principle.
 Against the Free Elective. The opponents of the free elective scheme assert that to the average man who has no distinct bias, the mere mum 4 Der of coursesSis confusing, while tc that large class who really do not want 3 to study anything eff they can help iO VI the temptation, to choose courses pro. x ductive of little besides leisure Is ire. sistible. President Schureman, of Cor. nell, expressed this objection in say ing: "Onering courses of instruction is not educating students. and the dril of the old system is often regretted even by the advocates of the new Dean West last year. to a Princeton gathering, said: Princeton declines tf turn over the direction of her curricu
 lum to her least educated men--the en tering freshmen The college that doe not know better than the freshman what he ought to study does not know enough to be a college"
 The balanced curriculum at Prince
 ton was introduced by the present ad
 ministration- in 1903. in the words O
 President Wilson, Ito present for thu
 use of the student an organic body O
 studies, conceived according to a def
 mite and consistent system, and di
 reeted toward a single comprehensive
 aim namely, the discipline and deVel
 opment of the mind"
 Elementary and fundamental sub
 tects, prescribed for freshmen am
 sophomores, are made instruments O
 mental drill, and provide adequat
 preparation for the more specialize, courses of the last two years Eacl candidate for either of the three bach
 e1ors' degfees is required to take Eng fish. Latin or Greek. one modern Ian
 puage. mathematics, physics, logic an, 1s ychology. Of this list. the subject
 for each year are definitely prescribed but a sophomore may. elect furthe
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