Bisbee daily review., 1913-03-26

NutH tuc otu ruhfdAoHHt lufbS H1 ceased 10 suffice. Princeton. under the presidency of Wilson. now took up the completing work of positively con structlng 4 system which should con tain the new ideas. the new subjects. and not only contain them. but organ. ize them. coordinate them. put them into proper sequence and relation.
 President Wilson's committee after months of labor. the freed and en. thusiastie labor of eager men. promni gated a revised. or. rather. new. sys. tem of collegiate study. II was the first positive attempt made to bring the new college education into infelh gent and systematic relationship as a body of discipline Ali interested In education know of the revolution wrought by the department system that has ever since prevailed at Prince ton. While 1t offered the widest scope for the "electiOn" of studies. 1t prac tically assured that the studies "elect- ed" should lead to one settiel purpose that is. it intellisently co-Ordinated a students work. 1t turned him out of College not with Nmattering of thousand subjects. but with a pretty thorough training in some one broad group of subjects
 President Wilson Is entitled tea tine credit of presiding over this revision.
 It was first evidence and result Of that principle of Wilson's mind which demands coordination and right rela-
 tionship. and it was the first step to-
 ward the transformation of Princeton into a university for the people. President Wilson's next step was to commit Princeton to the revolution
 that has come about with the adoption
 of the preceptorial system It was his
 tdea that the university had grown too
 large longer to train its students mere
 ly through lectures and examinations
 There was no provision for the stu dents outside of the classrooms. What they did elsewhere. where they lived.
 what they talked about, with whom they associated. what books they read. what ideals of life were held up before them-with all these the university in I Fifteen hours week in lecture rooms represented the only opportunity pos i sessed by the faculty to educate" the
 men All this. said the president. must be changed. These young men must ! not be turned out into the street to go and come without direction. without
 proper companionship. without inspira- .F $A | week His idea was to put the stu ' dents more intimately into association ! with q body of young instructors who were to afford the undergrads friendly i companionship and oversight Formal | recitations were largely abolished
 Men studied subjects; they did not merely take courses"
 l The cost of the preceptorial system
 was very great, approximately Sl00.- | 900 a year It was determined to i raise at least a part of this by sub | scriptions from the alumni Possibly | this determination was a practical CT | TOT. for il gave the a!dmni an infiu- i the university; especially it gave them
 a degree of control over the teaching
 system which has not thus far beer
 particularly happy in it's results.
 The preceptorial system was estab- | hshed and became distinctive feature ! of Princeton life h connection with ! the new curriculum it worked-call il
 a miracle and yon use none too strong
 a word It created new Princeton | The minds of hundreds Of students
 were emaucipated and stimulated; the 1 place pulSated with a new sort of spontaneIty and zest
 Princeton university. which. when | the last president resigned. was in such ! case that. according to n trustee of ! the day. its career threatened to end
 in it's virmal exdnctiou~ as aD impor. taut educational influence fin America
 was attracting the surprised attention
 of the country. It had a constructive
 program II had leader and har-
 monious faculty. and it had at leasi an acquiescent board Of trustees.
 Alas. that the further steps in that | program. the further ends to which the leaders clear vision and firm pur | pose looked. meant-demOcracy. Alas | that the educational revolution could not have pr0ceeded without laying its i frreverent hand on what the spirit O.
 old Princeton recognized as the sacred | ark Of social privilege. Alas. that Il i showed so much more concern rol
 manhood than for-money.