Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-06-21
Class OF 'l8 Graduates at BoWdoin

ana adapted 10 American needs, what
is the distinctive place of Bowdoin?
, We have in the past stood stoutly for /
I liberal education; and we shall continue
to stand for it. We have no desire to
become a university nor to tack on
/ technical annex; we hope to avoid also
the temptation common to many small
! colleges who wish to become big. The
type of boy to whom We appeal, the
constituency from which we draw and
which should be enlarged so as to in
clude in our student body more boys
from outside of New England, the
standards of scholarship which We
maintain-all these things will probably
make it unnecessary to place any for
NAL restrictions at least for many
years, upon the size of our entering
class. Most of US would not wish to
see the college have more than 500
students: but numbers are not the ulti-
mate test. We are striving to make
our own contribution in our own way
ready so far as details are concerned
always to change with changing times.
and traditions of the New England COL
lege
To train men effectively the thing Of
central importance is the teaching
force. Here at Bowdoin we have al
ways given, and l trust we shall al
ways give, complete independence and
a very large share of the management
of the college to the faculty. 1t has
been matter of policy with our gov
erning boards for many years to adopt
all the recommendations of the faculty
on educational matters. We hold that
the members of the faculty are NOT
merely teachers, they are educational
experts and in their hands should De
placed the management of the educa-
tional policy of the college. All this is
not determined so much by legal
statute as by proper cooperation be-
tween president, boards and staff
; Under President Hyde no appointment
! or promotion was made without the
approval of the permanent faculty; and
that practice will be continued The
direction of the educational policy of
|
matte if the teaching given is to be
really liberal, There is small danger
! of fantastic vagaries among teachers
| who are assured Of freedom and Sob
( cred by responsibility Many of the un-
happy instances Of late where the
! question of academic freedom has been
raised have occurred where teachers
had no fair share. no responsibility in
managing the college or university to
which they were attached.
In speaking of the faculty it should
/ not be forgotten that it is comma "a tive.
lY easy to secure administrators. We
Americans take by nature to business
ana direction it is the hardest task of
the college to secure good teachers and
" great teacher is rare indeed If the
sh1aH college offers to IT'S teachers an
opportunity to take an active mart IN
its management the ADVANTAGES of a
university in offering to scholars great
facilities and more in the way of pro-
f'ssional stimulus will be in no small
part Offset
! On all sides we are beng called upon
to give more definite instruction. But
, as the proVerb puts it, though we do
not know the goal, we are in locomo-
/ ton. 1t would be better if we had a
/ clearer notion OF what education is all
about, but as democracy in the politi
cal world was so long deferred because
men, willing though they were, could
! not find the right solution; and as de-
! mocracy IN the industrial world seems
! 10 be indefinitely postponed fer much
] the same reason, so in the educational
world we have to submit to constant
: experimentation. | share in the gen
eral feeling that for the college the
absolutely free elective system is not
, "ithout serious defects, because stu
uehts are not mature enough to choose
well. For them freedom might be de-
! flned as in the delightful French plav
Freedom is not to do what one
pieases, but to do what is deemed
/ wise At Bowdoin we have safe
guarded the elective system positively
by requiring certain work and mega
! lively by offering limited courses, We
ought, however. in my Judgment to
make sure that every student before
graduation should have had some work.
whether in language. history or art.
that would give him some insight into
the ancient world; some courses that
would Introduce him to English and
other modern literatures; some work
in philosophy or psychology; some
courses in history and economies; and
surely some work that would give him
the point of view of modern science
A student who has had the foundations
or college course soldly laid by rig
orous and for the most part prescribed
courses: who pursues at least one sub
Ject intensively. and who has not ut
terly neglected literature. philosophy.