Evening star., 1935-11-10
PRIVATE 4-YEAR COLLEGE
MUST ALTER WITH TIMES
Small Institutions Confronted by Rise
of Junior College and Extension of
University Curricula.

to do considerable careful figuring
when money for education beyond the
present four years high school is de-
cidedly limited in amount or must ac-
tually be borrowed. 1t may be rea-
soned out very easily that if John or
Mary goes away to Monock Univer-
sitp for the first two years 1t will cost
him, if he receives no scholarship not
far from 81 900 as a minimum, where
as, if he attends a nearby junior COL
lege, private or public, he will save
enough to put himself through one or
two years of advanced education. John
and Mary and their parents may re-
alize quite clearly the unquestioned
advantages of the individual develop
ment which is derived from living
away from home independent of
friends and relatives. Nevertheless for
thousands of Johns and Marys, the
final decision is certain to be in favor
of the local institution and later years
away from home for advanced study.
Student Outlook.
What is the average American small
college going to do to meet this Sit
uation? AS the period of adjustment
slowly but necessarily takes place. the
increase Of students in the upper two
years might be expected to offset to a
great extent the losses in number that
may be sustained in the two lower
classes. But in what manner is the
college to evolve so that its faculty
and alumni will feel that it is actually
performing an important function for
those who enter its halls from the
junior college level? Will students
ever feel that they have become part
of a two-year institution which seems
to start from nowhere in particular
and to have no aim in view, no philos-
ophy of education which motivates
and directs its activities? Will it be
just two more years of schooling? Will
graduates in later years look back
upon it as a real alma mater which
accomplished something vital in their
lives? Will the faculty itself feel that
they are worthwhile components in a
broad educational scheme?
sible answer to these questions al
though there j no reason to believe
that it is the only one. This is a
solution which moreover will suggest
somewhat the educational systems of
several European countries. In France
the lycee and college. in Germany
the gymnasium, complete the general
ary period of education in much the
me way that in America the sec
ondary school system, including the
Junior college, is expected according
to the beliefs of many educators to
compile this period in America. The
number of years of education received
and the age of leaving in both these
European countries and in the new
American plan are about identical.
From these secondary institutions
DAD. students who desire to con-
tinue their education generally enter
upon at least three years of special
lied study in university or higher
technical school.
Plan Considered in One State.
Is it not possible that the American
small college may expand its upper
division Of two years into three to
fc Al a we'll integrated unit? For
some time it might continue to offer
the first two years as a preparatory
school for its higher division just as
former days many a college in
c.."ded an academy or preparatory
school of four years. One State at
least has under consideration at pres
ent the recommendation that in COM
munltles where a four-year institu-
ton exists and the public de-
handing a free junior college, school
boards may negotiate with the local
organization to have it offer to gradu-
ates Of the high school, courses for
two years. at public expense
The chief emphasis of the reiuve-
mated college, however, would be in its
upper division of three years. Here
students from its own lower division
or from the community junior colleges
would be enabled either to specialize
in some one field or Craze widely over
,.isely differentiated area: the ma
jority, however, following the former
plan.
Five years of preparation beyond
the present four-year senior high
school is becoming more and more
essential for many lines of activity.
The possession of merely a bachelors
degree is regarded each year as less
than adequate. A glance over the
hundreds of masters degrees granted
throughout the United States last
June suggests that the necessity for
this degree is being recognized by
increasing numbers OF individuals.
One four-year college has recon-
mended that exceptionally bright stu
dents be permitted to acquire this
degree in four years of work. Ger
tainly the decision by far-sighted,
progressive small colleges to make the
masters degree the chief diploma to
be awarded at the conclusion of three
years beyond the junior college Pc
riod presents one solution fo1 the prob
lens arising from the development of
those institutions.
The perplexing situation in which
many small colleges find themselves
at present might thus resolve itself
into an opportunity for increasing
their prestige and importance in the
field of higher education.