FOOTNOTES

[C] In the Lena Delta. A narrative of the search for Lieutenant Commander De Long and his companions. Followed by an account of the Greely Relief Expedition and a Proposed Method of Reaching the North Pole. By George W. Melville. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1885.

[D] Paradise Found. The Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole. By William F. Warren, S. T. D., LL D. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1885.

[E] Personal Traits of British Authors. By Edward T. Mason. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1885.

[F] Custom and Myth. By Andrew Lang, M.A. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1885.

[G] The Cathedral Churches of England and Wales. Cassell & Company. New York: 1884. Price, $5.00.

[H] Meditations on Life, Death and Eternity. By Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokkè. Translated by Frederika Rowan. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe.

[I] Hand-Book of Bible Biography. By the Rev. C. R. Barnes, A.B. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. Price, $2.25.

THE CHAUTAUQUA UNIVERSITY.
WHAT ARE ITS CLAIMS?

BY PROF. R. S. HOLMES, A.M.

We shall be careful in what we say to make no claim for the correspondence system of teaching, as against any other. We claim for it simply a place as a co-laborer in the work of education. Lest any one should be misled by any utterances we may have made, or may hereafter make, and think that here was cast up a royal road over which one could pass with flying feet to the goal of educational culture, and enter it, to find only a narrow path, rough, stony, and filled with difficulties, we wish to plainly state what we claim for this system of instruction. Lest any one should conceive that the need for university and college has passed, and that results can be obtained by a home correspondence-university course, as good or better than can be obtained from actual college residence, we wish to plainly state what we do not claim. It may place our positive claims in a stronger light, if we set them forth against what we do not claim, as a background. Accordingly, our first statements will be negatives, as follows:

1. We do not claim that the correspondence system of teaching is the superior of oral teaching;

2. Nor that it is destined to supersede oral teaching;

3. Nor that it has wrought or will work any revolution in educational methods;

4. Nor that it can compete with oral teaching, on anything like equal terms;

5. Nor that by this method, years of study in classroom, under able, living teachers are made unnecessary;

6. Nor that it uses newer and better methods of instruction than are used in the classroom;

7. Nor that it is freer from defects than other existing systems;

8. Nor that a class, school, college, or university, dependent for its entire work upon pen, paper and post, should be sought by the student in preference to established resident institutions;

9. Nor that it is without serious disadvantages, even to the student most favorably circumstanced;

10. Nor, finally, that it is able to teach all branches of study without other than postal facilities.

We might carry this line of disclaimer farther, but are persuaded that enough has been said to enable us to make our claims for the correspondence system, without danger of being misunderstood. Still further, we desire the power of voice and pen, as far as it may reach, to be felt on the side of the college and university. To all who can go to college, our word is most emphatically—go; and having gone, stay; let nothing come between you and the completion of the course. Still further, we will say to such as are so limited by circumstances as to feel unable to devote the requisite time, means, and presence, to a college course, “If possible, let not circumstance compel you, but do you compel circumstance, till the desired way shall open; and this though years be occupied in the struggle. The goal is worth the race.”

Here, then, we present what we claim for the correspondence system of teaching:

1. We claim that the majority of those who are likely to avail themselves of this system, are men and women of mature mind, and hence are able to make the very best use of whatever advantages are offered them;

2. That the majority of those who are likely to avail themselves of the advantages we offer, are actuated by an earnest purpose to obtain an advanced education, by any means which are available to them;

3. That wise direction through correspondence, by competent and experienced teachers, is calculated to produce better results than can be expected ordinarily from unaided individual effort;

4. That teaching by correspondence can be successfully applied to a course of study so wide and comprehensive that one who masters it will secure a culture that would be rightly called liberal;

5. That this system of teaching is therefore entitled to a place, as associate, in the ranks of the teaching systems of the age;

6. That as a system, it is no untried experiment, but has been so tested that it can point to tangible results with no fear of discomfiture if these results be examined;

7. That it requires determined effort, and calls for rigid self-discipline, to insure success;

8. That it tends to form critical habits of study;

9. That it tends to produce self-reliance, and to develop individuality in methods of study;

10. That it affords marked opportunity for deliberation, and so fosters the judicial habit in study;

11. That it tends to systematize and render methodical all habits, whether of study or of life;

12. That opportunities for mal-application are reduced to a minimum;

13. That its possibilities are such as to warrant corporate effort to extend its advantages to those who would be otherwise deprived of any advanced educational opportunities;

14. That such a corporation is entitled to be called a School of Liberal Arts;

15. That it allows tests of the student’s acquirement, as rigid as can be desired by the highest standard of educational excellence;

16. That the student who has submitted to such tests, and successfully borne them, is entitled to the reward of a diploma and a degree;

17. Finally, that the corporation or institution which can prepare the student for such an ordeal is entitled to confer such diploma and degree.

The claims which we have now presented are sufficient to show the spirit and belief which have led to the incorporation of the Chautauqua University. We have attempted to state them logically, clearly, and forcibly. There is in them no element of disputation.

We appeal to a vast, an eager and earnest constituency. To know, only to know, is the earnest cry of multitudes of our fellows. Lament for lack of early opportunities, and consequent self-depreciation, is the undertow that sweeps to ruin the possibilities of many a life. High purposes and noble ambitions have been thwarted on life’s threshold by the cruel limitations of circumstance. Mistaken views of life’s best aims, in days when opportunities were possible, have been dispelled when the opportunities have long been left behind. To each of these classes the Chautauqua University brings the correspondence system of teaching, and says: for you, it is possible to supplement the lack of early years; for you, to realize your ambitions, even within the bond by which circumstance has bound you; and for you, in the new light which experience has given, to see other opportunities for obtaining that culture which, years ago, you neglected and passed by.