Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-05-27

Tho experiment that Amherst Col
Iaqe is making is of such vast I'M
nortance that no college-bred man
can afford to be ignorant of its
method and of its purpose. Briefly
nut, Amherst has deliberately turned
it's back upon everything that can be
suspected of use in yocatlonal train
inc and has set out to teach It's
students how to live instead OF now
to make a living. For more than
half a century 1t had conferred Two
baccalaureate degrees, those OF arts
and of science, In May, l91O, II nhoui-
fed both its classical and scientlhc
course, and a year later it abolished
the science degree entirely and de-
cided to award only the degree or
bachelor of arts to graduates OF
future entering classes. President
Neikleiohn, in his recent annual re-
port TO the trustees OF the college'
explains that the change was made
because the faculty wished to work
out a single liberal course, undis-
tracted by the necessity of dividing
their energies. He says, further, that
in many institutions the degree OF
bachelor of science has taken on de-
cidedly professional character and Is
courses of study and practise in en-
gineering of all kinds as we'll as in
agriculture and the mechanic arts. 1t
had not this character at Amherst,
but the customary associations of the
degree in other institutions were OBJ
iectionable to the Amherst faculty
and they, who were determined Ito
work out unconventional scheme of
instruction" set themselves to formu-
lating and administering a course of
study which might properly lead to
the degree of bachelor Of arts. They
decided on awarding single degree
for those who have pursued practical
ly the same course-tirst, because of
a desire to simplify the educational
problem; second, because of the dread
of the temptations of the elective
system as offered by choice be-
tween degrees; third, because of
preference for the higher scholastic
standing which partly as matter of
record and partly as a matter of re-
pute belonged to the arts course, and
fourth because of the purpose as al
ready indicated to be clearly non
vocational in the formulation of the
curriculum of liberal college.
President Meiklejohn takes particu-
lar pains to make it clear that AM
herst has not unduly magnified the
classical languages In it's modified
course, and also that it has not turn
ed it's back upon the sciences. In
deed, he boasts that Amherst has long
been convinced of the Importance of
a knowledge of the sciences to a lib
orally educated men-not the knowl-
edge that can be put to use in earn
ing a living, but a knowledge of
science as part Of the history of
human progress
Much more significant than the
abandonment of the science degree
is the decision of the faculty, an
| nounced a short time ago, to place
an elective course in social and econ
omic institution, in the freshman
year. The course has not yet zen
worked out, but the purpose of il
| Is very clear in the mind of the au-
| thorities. AS President MeikIejohn
says in his report: I'VE wish, II
| possible, to make the students at
| the very beginning of the college
course aware of the moral, social
and economic scheme-the society
of which they are MEMBERS" He
explains that such a course should
not encourage boys to believe that
they have all at once found solu-
tons of the problems by which thei1
| elder brothers are sorely perplexed
nor should it cast them down into
the skeptiscism which regards all
problems as insoluble. It's functions
are a searching for and a revealing
so far as possible, of the facts OF
the human situation and a setting
forth of the intellectual method by
which these situations may be un
derstood. 1t should be an intro
duction to ethics, logic, history
economics, law and government. Il
is admitted that doubts have beer
expressed as to the practicability OF
such a course on the ground that
boys in their freshmen year are not
ready for the examination of human
living. And it is admitted that there
is justification for the doubts; bu
the president is convinced that it il
much better to discover the weak
nesses in the mental processes Of
the students at the beginning of the
course than at the end, and he Is
persuaded also that it frequently
happens that the boys do not begir
to realize what they ought to bt
thinking about until their course il
nearly finished He says that the
college sends out every year bril-.