Daily Kennebec journal., 1922-01-14
Fads and Frills
Fail to Stick in
American College Life

Chicago, Illinois. January IA
significant feature of recent
comprehensive study of the American
college curriculum is that "fads and
frills" which have been planted in
the soil of the American coll
loge have never won their
way into a permanent place in the
American college program, DR.. II. l..
Kelley, executive secretary, told the
Association of American colleges here
today.
THE college has frequently been
charged with having no program in
particular and with wandering rather
aimlcssly through the field of human
knowledge" he said I'm practically
every college in the country the ont =
standing subject is the English Ian
guage and literature The only one
of the old line disciplinary sub jects
which still plays a prominent part in
the college program is mathematics
Three subjects have come to promi-
ncnce undoubtedly as a result of the
war, namely the French language and
literature and chemistry. With the
above subjects is usually coupled
history or. some related subject. as
political economy, sociology and pol
iticS.
ut is these subjects which the stu
dents in the American colleges arc
studying for the most. part and this
statement applies to womCn's colleges
as well as mems and cocducational
, n { n -, Z, e.
colleges the new subject, domestic
science. has not in general attained
a prominent place. In word. IL may
be said that the American college
does have very definite program
and that program is being carried
out with marvellous uniformity
throughout the entire country"
Foreign Language Study Declines
The study of foreign languages has
decreased 3.5S per cent in IS leading
colleges and universities of this coua-
try during the eight year period OF
l9l1-12 to 1919-20, according to the
results of a study of the distribution
of student hours Of instruction as
submitted to the Association of Am
erican colleges by President Freder-
ick c. Ferry. of Hamilton college,
Clinton, n. Y. here today.
The report said the colleges from
which this average was obtained are:
Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Bryn
Mawr, Columbia, Dartmouth. Hamil-
ton, Harvard, Mount Holyolse. Ober-
lin, Princeton, Smith, Stanford,
Wellesley, Wesleyan. Williams. Wis
consin and Yale. The tables present
cd showed in percentages the pro-
portion of the total number of hours
taken in each subject to the total
number of hours taken in all sub
Jects- The results were presented in
general for undergraduates in the
schools Of liberal arts and sciences
only. The decline was from 2i.02 to
2l.31 percent. The largest decrease
is shown at Wisconsin followed by
Yale, Columbia, Smith, Mt. Hoiyoke.
and Princeton in order. Columbia
shows the largest increase in the sci
ence group, amounting to 1917 per
cent. while it is closely followed by
Bowdoin with Yale and Brown in
next order. In all the other subjects
OF the curriculum taken together an
average increase of 2.77 per cent is in
erect. This increase is nearly all
covered by the larger amount of at
tention given to economics.
The greatest changes in the distri
button of student hours of instruction
have occurred at Bowdoin, Columbia
and Smith. while the smallest have
been at Harvard. Wesleyan and
Wellesley. ........