Evening star., 1909-05-27
FOR ColLEGE COURSES ONLY
n. c. BRUCE WANTS CHANGE AT
HOWARD UNIvERsITY.
Would Drop Preparatory instruction
and Confine Curriculum to the
Higher Branches.

That the college preparatory or sec.
ondary instruction be dropped by How
| ard University and that it confine Its
curriculum to collegiate courses was urged
by Roscoe Conkling Bruce. assistant su-
perintendent in charge Of local colored
schools, in an address at the banquet
Of the alumni Of Howard University last
night.
| He said, in part:
"Of the 1888 students now enrolled In
the various departments OF study and
practice connected with Howard Uni
versity seventy-five are in the teachers
college, lis In the college Of arts and
sciences. and 1913 in the preparatory de-
partment That Is to say, 323 students
more than the College Of Arts and Sci
ences and the Teachers College together
may boast-are engaged upon levels Of
| work below the entrance requirements
of the standardized American college The
development which has given rise to this
situation Is sufficiently well known. May
| l, as one who loves Howard and How
ards preparatory department for their
| precious gifts to me, be permitted the
impertinence Of this query: Is the IN
| determinate continuance OF secondary In
| struction here desirable?
| "Q) Can Howard without disproportion-
ate expenditure offer secondary instruc-
| tion equal in value to that offered by the
public secondary schools OF this city! The
District of Columbia operates manual
| training high school and an academic
high school for the service Of colored
students These schools have many in
adequacies and imperfections OF equip
ment, but nevertheless l should not be
seriously In error were to say that
their equipment and facilities for at
tracing able teachers cannot now be
matched by any other secondary school
for oolored pupils in the United States.
Is 1t we'll in this community to duplicate
Is it desirable to continue beyond the
point where continuance is unavoidable
the traditional policy of offering high
school opportunities here at Howard?
realize the fundamental difficulty of get
| ting from actually existent preparatory
| schools sufficient number of students
duly prepared for college, disciplines. but
| these schools have never been so various
and so efficient as they are today.
Believes Efficiency Impaired.
| ''2) Is 1t not incontestably true that a
Howard man should invariably be some
thing more and better than a high school
graduate? My impression is that the
reputation of a university is not en-
hanced by graduates OF its high school
department, however worthy that de-
partment may be. The Howard man is
the ambassador of the university to the
nation.
"3. am gravely in error IL the actual
| efficiency Of a university be not impaired
has been the experience Of several Ameri-
| can institutions that have hazarded the
| experiment. 1t is not merely impairment
Of instructional efficiency that have In
mind. Perhaps the most vital thing In a
| university is its atmosphere. impalpable
| though that be. Above all things. the at
mosphere must not be clouded with lower
standards than those of the American
| college. Howard is to be congratulated
upon the fact that 1t is far better able
/ than any similar institution to relegate
precollegiate instruction to secondary
| schools.
II do not say that students might.
| through the suggestion of the university
| itself, be stimulated to come to the city
| of Washington-the nations city-for the
purpose of preparing for cellege in the
| public secondary schools. though many
| now do so without artificial stimulus.
| would impose no new burden, either. upon
the public schools of Washington; as a
taxpayer / would add no jot or title to
the taxes now paid by our humorously
disfranchised citizenship In word. ever,
the District Of Columbia in accordance
| with my suggestion would by statutory
| requirement be compelled to pay the
| whole cost Of his instruction.
Ventures q Prediction.
ITO resume; do now with due humil.
ity venture the prediction that the pro.
gressive well-being Of this great nationa
university Of ours demands the devotion
of all its resources to the Strengthening
and enrichment and elevation of the col
leges and the professional schools an6
the discontinuance of its secondary in
struction at the earliest practicable mo-
ment.
THE vital service Of the preparatory
department In making the college posi-
BILE none may question. Twenty-Five years
hence. however, all will realize that this
/ was the scaffolding of the structure OF