PART II
CHAPTER V
OXFORD AS IT IS
OR AS IT HAS SEEMED TO A RHODES SCHOLAR
Difficulty of describing Oxford.
What manner of place is Oxford? Every one knows Oxford; and yet, how little is Oxford understood—even by those who enjoy a period of residence within its gates! Tourists come for a day or a week, ask numerous questions, consult a guide or a book, see a few buildings and a picture postcard, and are ready to tell ‘all about Oxford’. Yet the longer one stays in Oxford the more one hesitates to attempt description.
The University has its ‘Statutes’, its ‘Handbook’, its ‘Calendar’, its ‘Examination Statutes’, its ‘Programmes’ and ‘Lecture Lists’, which contain the official information which an American inquirer expects to find in his University ‘Catalogues’, ‘Bulletins’, and ‘College Annuals’. Then there are numberless books which deal with various phases of Oxford life, some of them serious, some merely impressionist sketches. But no one book professes to give a really comprehensive description of Oxford or to touch on all its phases; few persons have time or opportunity or inclination to read all; and still fewer, after reading of Oxford or living in Oxford, or doing both, agree in their impressions of what Oxford really is.
Oxford changes slowly, very slowly—and yet what one writes of Oxford to-day may seem inaccurate to his readers to-morrow; Oxford mills grind exceeding fine, yet what one person thinks wheat may seem to another chaff. It depends on the point of view. This is where the difficulty lies, and herein one feels his presumption when trying to make Oxford real and comprehensible to the uninitiated.
Two ideas: the abstract and the concrete.
Really ‘Oxford’ means two things—it is the name of a place, and it represents an idea. Bonaparte said of himself that he was ‘not a man but an event’, and yet he was both. The word ‘Napoleon’ represents to us a man and an idea. The difficulty is to differentiate, to say how far the concrete and the abstract may be separated, and how far each is necessary to the proper understanding of the other. The technical purpose for which these chapters are intended suggests that this attempt to outline certain salient features of Oxford custom and practice shall be limited to the concrete, avoiding as far as possible the ideal side, especially where bordering on the lines of controversy.
Oxford. Unique character.
Oxford is unique among Universities. Only Cambridge approximates to it in character and in system. No other English or Continental University is like these two. It is from its manner of life and from its environment that Oxford has acquired and maintained its individuality. The University has a history which by tradition antedates the Conquest; it has grown with England; its rights, its charters, its laws have undergone the vicissitudes of centuries and have developed in the same process of evolution with the charters and laws and Constitution of England. The Colleges have been intimately associated with the great events, constitutional, political, religious, and social, which have made English history; and the University has fought for and won its rights side by side with other English institutions.
National position.
As it exists to-day the University is ‘sovereign’ within its own borders, subject to the National Government only in regard to those greater obligations, such as an individual State in the United States owes to the National Government.
Oxford and Cambridge are not National or State Universities in the sense in which that term is applied to many Continental and American Universities. The English Government makes no appropriation for their support. And yet they are—and they only—in character the great national Universities of England.
The University a federation.
Visitors from abroad come to Oxford, are shown about through College after College, and after many expressions of surprise and delight exclaim, ‘Yes, yes; excellent, excellent, but where is the University?’ They are looking for the ‘main building’, the ‘administration building’, something concrete which they may call the University—and they do not find it.
The University is a federation—an academic United States, made up of twenty-two ‘societies’—the Colleges—each of which has its separate corporate existence.
Revenues.
The University is dependent for its running expenses on its endowments, fees, and the pro rata contributions from each of the Colleges. The Colleges are also supported by their endowments, which, usually in land, are considerable and yet decidedly variable, and also by College fees as paid by undergraduates. The University is not as rich in income as credited, and its yearly revenues are really insufficient for the enormous work which it undertakes.[44]
Expense.
There are a number of reasons why the cost of living at Oxford is high. The University, as explained, consists of a large number of separate establishments—the Colleges. Students are ‘up’ but one half of the year, and yet the College ‘establishment’ must be maintained the year round. A large number of servants are necessary to the system, which in respect to style of living and service resembles hotel life. The standard of maintenance and service demanded by the students themselves is not conducive to economy.
The student body.
It is somewhat misleading to characterize Oxford and Cambridge as ‘rich men’s Universities’. The phrase is probably more appropriate to them than it is to any other English-speaking educational institutions; yet ‘wealth’ is not the key to entrance or to success in Oxford. So far as technical restrictions are concerned, the University is open ‘without respect of birth, age, or creed to all persons who satisfy the appointed officers that they are likely to derive educational advantage from its membership’.[45]
In practice a considerable amount of ready cash is necessary for every one who wishes to enjoy the advantages of Oxford College life.[46] The sons of aristocratic and of well-to-do families in England, if destined for University careers, are nearly all sent to Oxford or to Cambridge, and the student bodies are recruited largely from these sources. It is asserted that Oxford draws a large proportion of its students from some twenty ‘Public Schools’. The boys who go through these ‘Schools’ have had most of their education away from home since their ninth or tenth years. The cost of living in an English ‘Public School’ is as great as, or greater than, that of educating a boy in an American Private Preparatory School or ‘Military Academy’. Men who have been in these Schools usually come up to Oxford with a generous allowance.
But there are also in Oxford a large number of men whose means are comparatively limited. There is no such thing as ‘working one’s way’ in Oxford, and practically the only way in which one’s allowance may be supplemented is through the winning of a scholarship. The type of student who under Western conditions in America not infrequently ‘starts his College career on nothing and graduates with a bank account’ is impossible in Oxford. Again, while it is true that many men in Oxford consider themselves ‘absolutely poor’ on a sum which will keep a man in most Universities altogether comfortably, yet for all purposes of comparison there is an inconsiderable proportion of poor men in the University.
Oxford life is expensive—in many respects it seems too expensive. A high minimum allowance[46] is necessary to the student, just as some knowledge of Latin and Greek is necessary for passing Responsions; but it is as misleading to characterize the whole institution as a ‘rich man’s University’ as it would be to say the whole student body is composed of scholars.
Democratic character.
Within itself the University is very democratic. The lines of social cleavage are rather vertical than horizontal. There is a thorough atmosphere of personal independence. While peculiarities and eccentricities are discouraged, yet originality—so long as it does not annoy—is at a premium, and individuality is sacred to an extent best known to Englishmen. The diversity of interests and the variety of pursuits in which Oxford men are daily engaged cover almost as wide a range as the catalogue of individual tastes.
With all this diversity of taste and pursuit, the students within the University commonwealth are alike in this, that, whether from noble, aristocratic, or middle-class families, they generally represent achievement and ambition—and most of them regard their University course as a training for active political, professional, literary, or social life. Oxford and Cambridge claim pre-eminently to fit the men, who by reason of birth or merit succeed to the leading places in British administration and thought, for the high places which they are to fill. As Wellington gave credit for the victory of Waterloo to the ‘playing-fields of Eton’, so England gives credit for innumerable triumphs, military, civil, and political, for achievements, physical, intellectual, and moral, to the playing-fields and the river, the lecture-rooms and the firesides of Oxford. The University boasts that it trains men to live lives both of achievement and of enjoyment, to meet exigencies and emergencies as they arise—to be not only men but gentlemen. Oxford and Cambridge degrees are accepted in England as educational hall-marks.
Social.
Clubs and cliques and social discriminations, of course, exist, but they are little paraded. One’s social relations and activities are little known outside the circle to which they appertain. There is a rare freedom from ‘’Varsity Politics’. Athletic professionalism is an absent quantity. Oxford neither knows nor understands the spirit of the German student Verbindung or of the American ‘College Fraternity’. In fact many phases of the ‘fraternizing’ spirit seem lacking in Oxford life.
The nearest approach to the ‘Class organization’ or organization by Departments which influences University life in America, is the predominance of the College in Oxford life. Clear lines between ‘Senior’, ‘Junior,’ ‘Sophomore,’ and ‘Freshmen’ are not drawn; there are no Class organizations and Class activities—such, for instance, as football matches, cane-rushes, editing the College Annual, and the ‘Junior Prom.’ There is some natural separation but no artificial cleavage between students of different years. The relations between a ‘Fresher’ and a ‘Second year’ or ‘Third year’ man, for instance, are subject to certain conventions and formalities of introduction which Oxford emphasizes only in their practice, but, beyond that, social relations are only limited by one’s own personality.
Conservatism.
To say that Oxford is Conservative is almost to state an axiom. The ‘town’ is Conservative; the University is Conservative; the students are Conservative. Conscious of this characteristic, Oxford cultivates it to some extent as an ideal. Pointing to history, and emphasizing results, it justifies Conservatism, yet its Conservatism should not be magnified. The town, rejoicing for the present in the artistic inconvenience of horse-cars and some other like antiquities, nevertheless continues a study and a discussion of motor-trams and motor-’buses, and will doubtless some day adopt that form of conveyance which it decides best. Likewise the University, feeling a certain prejudice against innovations and a certain suspicion of new methods and practices, looks with a critical eye upon new theories, new educational ideas and suggestions, and yet it is generally ready to appropriate and to apply those productions of modern thought and genius which prove themselves, by surviving the experimental stage, really worth while. Oxford Conservatism is essentially a thinking attitude. In the realm of politics, ‘Socialism’ as it is commonly cried in many of the Continental Universities, is tabooed in Oxford. ‘Conservatives’—and every Oxford man has his politics—outnumber ‘Liberals’, although not by any great majority. Oxford has seldom stood for other than Tory principles; and yet one has not far to look in English history to see how time and again reform movements and the promulgation of new and radical ideas have originated and found their support in ‘the Universities’.
Comfort.
Oxford would not be English if it did not emphasize comfort—personal comfort. True, it has many inconveniences and lacks some of the fittings which add to the perfection of modern buildings. It is hard to reconcile old buildings and modern conveniences. Lamp and candle still shed the only light in at least one College—but this is not the rule; nearly every College building in Oxford has been ‘wired’, and table-lamps as well as drop-light ‘switch on’ in student rooms at the ‘press of the button’. Modern baths and showers (except a few new buildings) and a University gymnasium are wanting; but every man has his ‘tub’; and the gymnasium ‘though missing is not missed’—for all outdoors is the Oxford gymnasium. For boxing, wrestling, and fencing there are private gymnasiums.
But for the solid everyday comfort of well-furnished apartments, of good cooking and excellent service, for freedom from bother with details, for convenient arrangements for athletic sports and for social life, Oxford provides as by a high art. The ‘strenuous life’ is frequently better known by its absence than otherwise, and many people in Oxford dislike even the sound of those words; yet there is a clear track and every opportunity for the man who insists on being strenuous.
Artistic surroundings.
Added to the personal comforts are the artistic and scholastic comforts—if one may speak of them as such—with which the student is surrounded. The natural beauties of Oxford’s environment are a fit setting for the classic treasures of architecture which have risen in irregular grouping throughout the mediaeval town. As the student comes and goes, as he sits at his lecture, he is, consciously or unconsciously, living in an atmosphere of artistic realities. And then again, one cannot but remember now and then that he is sitting on the same benches or writing at the same table where once sat or wrote many of the men whose lives or whose works he is set to study, and whose portraits now stare down upon him from the walls opposite or whose coats of arms are blazoned on the oak panelling around him. Then as for books and libraries and reading-rooms—whether one wishes to dig among ancient texts or manuscripts, to consult reference libraries, or to fill one’s own shelves with books old and new, where can Oxford be surpassed?
Cosmopolitanism.
As a cosmopolitan intellectual centre Oxford is a Mecca to which pilgrims flock from all parts of the world; pilgrims with brains, pilgrims without brains; those who want to learn and those who do not want to learn; bookworms, athletes, soldiers, ‘sports,’ workers and idlers; sons of noblemen, sons of commoners; not Englishmen alone, but Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Egyptians, Germans, and Frenchmen. All this variety of student units go about looking very much alike in the conventional ‘lounge’ garb of Oxford; so that only an intimate acquaintance reveals the true cosmopolitanism of its personnel and of its intellectual life.
The ‘College’.
Although the University encircles, and, in constitutional and jurisdictional matters, exercises authority over the Colleges, it is really only the sum of the Colleges, each of which is in turn only the sum of its members. While the University is thus only a union of the Colleges for attaining such ends and such status as can better be attained by united than by isolated existence, the College is a real and concrete thing, the foundation stone of the ‘Oxford System’. Each College is within itself independent; each has its own traditions and some characteristics of organization, life, and system which are peculiar to itself. With the affairs of the College individually the University is not concerned.
The Colleges as they exist to-day suggest some features of the monastery, some of the ancient hostelry, some of the fashionable hotel, some of the College dormitory, and some of the bachelor’s club—they combine church, lecture-rooms, dining-halls, professors’ houses, College clubs and students’ apartments, all within the radius of College walls, all accessible only through College gates, all capable of being shut off from the outside world, at once castle and prison.
To the University there come each year about 900 new men: there are in residence about 2,800; of these each College has from 40 to 300. During his first and second year the student is generally required to live in College, while in his third he may (except in a few instances) and often must go out into ‘digs’, that is, into ‘licensed lodgings’ in the town.
The life of the College is real Oxford life. It was this which Cecil Rhodes cherished most in his reverence for his University; it was this which gave him his confidence in the ‘Oxford System’.
As with individuals so with these Colleges—the longer one’s acquaintance, the better one realizes that each College is independent, has its individuality, its own traditions, and its own personal character. This makes College life again a difficult subject upon which to generalize. Certain technical characteristics, however, are common to all. The College buildings are arranged in quadrangles, in each of which are several ‘stairs’. On each stair are a number of suites of rooms, eight suites being perhaps the average. There are no corridors, so that each stair is as it were a house by itself. Each student has rooms to himself, a ‘sitter’, which serves as living and dining room, and a ‘bedder’ always; while often a ‘thirder’ adds the convenience of a separate study-room. Each suite has also a small cupboard-pantry, and there is usually on each stair a ‘scout’s pantry’ (or kitchen). Each stair has a ‘scout’ and one or two ‘scout’s boys’, who are servants-in-general to all the men on the stair.
The system of breakfasting, lunching, and entertaining in one’s rooms makes the undergraduate at once a host and a householder. When at rare intervals a student wishes to be left alone with his books or his thoughts he may ‘sport his oak’, that is, he may slam the heavy oaken outer door, well known to readers of Tom Brown, whose inside spring-lock bars entrance even to friends who may be familiar enough to ignore the suggestion of its closing. The great elasticity of the tutoring and examination system further makes it possible for the undergraduate to study or not as he may choose, and to dispose of his time practically at his own sweet will. In these respects the Oxford student enjoys an independence which is almost unknown elsewhere—excepting in some of the German Universities.
The Oxford day.
As the activities of Oxford readily resolve themselves into scholastic, athletic, and social, so the Oxford day, the natural Oxford day, in respect to morning, afternoon, and evening, approximately adopts this order.
Voluntary early rising is not the fashion, but eight o’clock chapel or roll-call compels it on half, or more than half, the days of Term, while the demands of training prevent many men from sleeping as late as their less strenuous fellows. As compared with American students, however, on their native soil, the Oxford student is a late riser. The voice of the scout and the slamming of a bath-tub on the floor rouse the student to a consciousness of the new day. Morning hours begin invariably with a cold tub. Chapel, if attended (ritual service only), requires about fifteen minutes.
Breakfast is taken in one’s own rooms or in the rooms of a friend, alone, or with three or four friends or guests—for the breakfast hour is a favourite time for entertaining, and enjoying a social meal. An Oxford ‘brekker’ is very different from the coffee and rolls of the Continent—it is a good, hearty meal, with satisfying solid courses.
Most lectures are given between nine and one o’clock. These four hours, more than any others, are Oxford’s formal work-time, while the hours from eight in the evening on are those also given to work.
Luncheon, if the student lunch in his rooms or in the College Common-room (only possible in a few Colleges), is a very light meal. But luncheon, again, is a favourite medium for entertaining, especially on Sundays, and when one has guests, luncheon loses its ordinarily simple character.
It requires a more or less elaborate system, especially in a large College, to provide for and keep up with the wants of two or three hundred tables. The cooking is all done in the College kitchen, and from there are sent the dishes which the student orders through his scout. Milk, bread, cheese, ‘drinks,’ and so forth are supplied by the College buttery; cakes, candies, fruits, tea, coffee, and tobaccos are usually obtained from the College ‘Common-room’—all are sent to the ‘stair’, and the scout serves the tables upon the stair. Every student has tea and coffee and sugar, and usually a shelf full of such edibles and drinkables as he chooses, together with dishes and ‘plate’ in his pantry. A kettle of water is usually boiling, or ready to boil, on the trivet before his fireplace, so that he is always prepared to dispense a substantial as well as a cordial hospitality.
Athletics.
The afternoon is given up to sport. Oxford students probably give more time to athletics than any other body of students in the world. At Heidelberg, aside from a few sporadic efforts on the river, the most strenuous exercise indulged in seems to be on the blood-stained floor of the duelling-room in the ‘Hirschgasse’, but less than half the students indulge in this energetic crossing of swords. The French students scarcely understand the term ‘athletics’ at all. America and England lead, and although the American College has a good deal of athletics, and sometimes too much, it is athletics for the minority, whereas at Oxford almost everybody ‘goes in for something’.
The students come from that class which can and does take the greatest interest in all manner of sports and athletic games. In the ‘Public Schools’ the boys learn the rules and requirements of their games, and get about all the coaching they ever get. Men do not often learn games at the ’Varsity; they play them. ‘Practice’ is a word little heard on a College field; only in rowing is a systematic and an evolutionary coaching-system in practice.
Each College has its own boats, its own football and cricket and hockey teams, with its own playing-fields. There is a constant programme of inter-college contests.
The Oxford idea is ‘exercise for every one’, a thing of vital importance for keeping in condition in the climate of Oxford. Exercise is taught the English boy with his A, B, C. Of the 2,800 students who keep Term at Oxford, fully two-thirds are out engaging in some vigorous exercise every afternoon. For games, it is not requisite that one be a ‘star’—every one may find room at something or other. The men who show up best in their College teams or in College crews are ‘tried’ for the ’Varsity. Thus the ’Varsity teams and crews are chosen from a very large number of men who are actually engaged in and practising the sports for which ’Varsity men are needed, and under this system athletic ability is often discovered which, under systems where only ‘promising candidates’ ever ‘try’, would never even be suspected.
The game more than the victory is the objective in College contests,[47] and although this may rob the play of a certain intense strenuousness, it at the same time eliminates roughness and foul play.
With the exception of rowing, systematic coaching and serious training are little applied. At times, this causes a decided lack of that efficiency which results from precise ‘team-work’, and may be criticized as leaving too much to the brilliancy of individual playing; but it eliminates professionalism and trickery.
There is little business connected with College athletics. The expenses of field and pavilion and barge and boats are met from subscriptions to the ‘amalgamated clubs’—to which nearly every College man belongs. The expenditure of a team is slight. The College provides the field. Every man furnishes his own ‘togs’, of which a different sort are required for nearly every sport. The clubs furnish boats and balls, and the few requisites which must be common property. Only to ’Varsity matches (and not to all of them) is admission charged. Almost no one watches a College match, for the simple reason that every one who is not playing on the field is engaged somewhere else at some other game. There is no ‘rooting’. A few scattered cheers break out at times, but there is no organized ‘encouragement’. One feature of Oxford athletics which is in striking antithesis to American College athletics is, that here, the more prominent and successful an athlete becomes, the greater his expenses, as he buys his own outfits, his own ‘blazers’, often pays his own railroad fares, usually incurs numerous social obligations, and receives no ‘compensation’ further than a row of shining prizes which may adorn his mantle-shelf.
From the river and fields the men come in at about 4.30 for tea. Years ago a German traveller wrote in his diary, ‘To the Englishman tea is as necessary as to the German his beer.’ The customs have not changed. In this respect as in others ‘Oxford is nothing if not the reflection of English life’. As a social institution the tea-hour, with rest and ‘something to eat’ and lively conversation ‘after the game’, is thoroughly enjoyable; while as a practical institution it is a necessity, as dinner is two and a half hours away and the inner man needs immediate fortifying after the vigorous exercise of the past two hours.
The hard-working man, then, has a chance to get in two hours of reading between tea-time and dinner.
Evening.
After the bells have struck seven the students stream, in gown and bare-headed, toward their College halls. At this one time during the day the students of each College really gather in a body. In the semi-gloom of the long hall, with its high ceiling and panelled, portrait-hung walls, with fireplaces glowing and electric lights illumining white cloths and bright silver, the tables are arranged in long rows, with flanking of narrow, backless benches on each side. Students file in; dons and Master enter, in evening dress, their loose gowns flowing back from their shoulders as they stride to ‘high table’. After the reading of a Benedictus benedicat all sit down and fall-to right merrily. The dinner hour can hardly be styled a social hour—in hall; in fact, so business-like does it become at certain undergraduate tables that it might well appear to the casual observer——but, as a matter of fact, casual observers are not allowed entrance.
After dinner the men gather in little knots about the bulletin-boards or drift into the Common-room, there in the College club-rooms to spend a few minutes over the newspapers, writing notes, consulting the bulletins, athletic reports and predictions, or engaging in conversation over coffee-cups and a quiet smoke. Or little groups go off to this or that room for ‘coffee’ and a social hour or evening; while many go straight away to libraries or work-tables.
The possible divisions for the evening are too numerous for even a summary; but of the serious possibilities there are numerous debating and literary societies in every College. There are University Clubs, literary, musical, social, political; the Union Debates, parliamentary in their training, occur every Thursday evening; on Sunday evenings the Balliol Concerts provide excellent programmes of music, open to undergraduates; under town auspices and under University auspices, Oxford is given opportunity throughout Term-time to hear much of the best musical talent; visits and addresses by the leaders of English political and ecclesiastical thought are frequent, and are thoroughly appreciated by the undergraduate body.
An attempt to describe the difference between the activities of one Term and another would lead too far afield. Three times each year the men ‘come up’, spend eight weeks in Oxford, and go down again for the three Vacations, which last six, six, and sixteen weeks respectively. No small amount—in the case of many men the major portion—of the student’s ‘work’ is done during these Vacations. To some men the Vacation is the ‘dull season’ and Term-time is play-time; to others Term-time is a season for filling up notebooks and Vacation a time for learning what has been written into them. To some the object of life seems to be reading; to others, athletics and sports in general. There is no ‘dull season’ in Oxford athletics. Football, hockey, lacrosse, &c., are played in the two winter Terms; rowing goes on the year round, as does track practice; tennis, cricket, and the ‘slacking’ forms of river exercise are favourites in the Summer Term. The Oxford-Cambridge Rugby match is played in the Christmas Vacation; the Oxford-Cambridge Boat-race and the field sports take place in the Spring Vacation. The pleasures of Oxford Summer Term, ‘Eights week,’ ‘Commem.,’ and Henley, lead to the realm of poetry and have no place in a handbook.
Some critics complain that men waste their time in Oxford. So they do, some of them—and so they do elsewhere. It is all a matter of manner and degree, and a question of what constitutes waste. One might do almost no work in Oxford and yet do just the opposite of wasting his time—if he use his eyes and ears. There is that about Oxford which breathes of History, which exhales Romance, which is redolent of culture, which fills the very atmosphere with the spirit of hospitality. One need only walk through the College ‘quads’ and cloisters, follow the windings of the ‘finest architectural street in Europe’, ‘the High,’ wander through meadow and park, along the banks of Isis and Cherwell, through Addison’s Walk, through ‘Mesopotamia’, or out on the hills where Shelley delighted to pass long afternoons, or off to the north where Gladstone walked alone; one must, if he have any capacity, get something of a liberal education; he cannot fail of inspiration. One may go to lectures on Literature and History, and, without ever taking a note, carry away impressions of what has been and what is and what is going to be in the world, especially in the English world, and in life and thought both ancient and modern.
It is impossible to tell some one else just what Oxford is—but Oxford as it may be is a question with which every Oxford man has to deal for himself. Oxford is a home of ‘influences’; it is all too frequently referred to as the ‘home of lost causes’; what it becomes for each man who trusts himself or is entrusted to its ‘influence’, depends largely upon himself. The University offers each man wide fields for the investment of his time and talent—it offers much for one to learn—but it does not do much choosing for one, nor does it set itself as a task-master.
It is often hard to take Oxford seriously. Examinations seem a far-away, hazy something, too often forgotten, as each day unrolls a tempting programme of delights other than books. Unlimited credit causes many an unthinking undergraduate to step deep into debt before he stops to reflect that tradesmen do keep accounts. The freedom of a life where every man is expected to think and act for himself offers every opportunity for self-improvement or self-destruction. But there is always a day of reckoning. Sooner or later examinations stare one in the face and bills roll in from every side. The student has kept his Terms and Oxford has offered him what he has chosen to take. The man who has reckoned well with his time and his money will take something far more valuable than his degree from Oxford. The man who has looked upon his ’Varsity years as a mere summer of pleasure has also gotten much out of his ‘College course’, but in its last days he may find much cause to quote from the ‘grasshopper and the ant’.
The University Calendar for 1906-7 shows a total of 3,663 undergraduates at present enrolled.[48]
| Matriculations, | 1905-6 | 926 |
| B.A. Degrees, | ” | 660 |
| M.A. Degrees, | ” | 382 |
COLLEGES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
| The Colleges. | Name of Head. | Title of Head. | Correspondence should be addressed to: The | Number of Undergraduates enrolled 1906-7. | Date of Founding. | Order of Founding. | Abbreviation sometimes used for the name. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Souls | Sir William Reynell Anson, Bart., M.P., D.C.L. | Warden | 4 | 1437 | 9 | ||
| Balliol | Edward Caird, M.A., Hon. D.C.L | Master | Senior Tutor | 236 | 1268 | 2 | Bal. |
| Brasenose | Charles Buller Heberden, M.A. | Principal | Principal | 111 | 1509 | 11 | B.N.C. |
| Christ Church | Thomas Banks Strong, D.D. | Dean | Dean | 304 | 1532 | 13 | Ch.Ch. |
| Corpus Christi | Thomas Case, M.A. | President | President | 93 | 1516 | 12 | C.C.C. |
| Exeter | William Walrond Jackson, D.D. | Rector | Rector | 204 | 1314 | 4 | Ex. |
| Hertford | Henry Boyd, D.D. | Principal | Principal or Senior Tutor | 116 | 1874 | 20 | Hert. |
| Jesus | John Rhys, D.Litt. | Principal | Principal | 140 | 1571 | 16 | |
| Keble | Walter Lock, D.D. | Warden | Warden | 215 | 1870 | 21 | |
| Lincoln | William Walter Merry, D.D. | Rector | Rector | 99 | 1427 | 8 | Linc. |
| Magdalen | Thomas Herbert Warren, M.A.[49] | President | President | 169 | 1456 | 10 | Magd. |
| Merton | Thomas Bowman, M.A. | Warden | Warden | 127 | 1264 | 3 | Mert. |
| New | William Archibald Spooner, D.D. | Warden | Warden | 317 | 1379 | 7 | |
| Oriel | Charles Lancelot Shadwell, D.C.L. | Provost | Provost | 138 | 1326 | 5 | |
| Pembroke | The Rt. Rev. John Mitchinson, D.C.L. | Master | Master | 104 | 1624 | 18 | Pemb. |
| Queen’s | John Richard Magrath, D.D. | Provost | Provost | 159 | 1340 | 6 | |
| St. John’s | James Bellamy, D.D. | President | President | 203 | 1555 | 15 | St. J. |
| Trinity | Henry Francis Pelham, M.A. | President | President | 172 | 1554 | 14 | Trin. |
| University | Reginald Walter Macan, M.A., D.Litt. | Master | Master | 200 | 1249 | 1 | Univ. |
| Wadham | Patrick Arkley Wright-Henderson, D.D. | Warden | Warden | 111 | 1613 | 17 | Wadh. |
| Worcester | Charles Henry Oliver Daniel, D.D. | Provost | Provost | 123 | 1714 | 19 | Worc. |
| St. Edmund Hall | Edward Moore, D.D. | Principal | Principal | 48 | 1269 | St. E. | |
| Non-Coll. Delegacy | Richard William Massy Pope, D.D. | Censor | Censor | 216 | 1868 | Non-Coll. |
CHAPTER VI
THE OXFORD SYSTEM
UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE GOVERNMENT, METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, COURSES OF STUDY, DEGREES
The point of view.
Some one has said that a University, primarily considered, is less a school than an atmosphere. This applies with peculiar force to Oxford. Unlike American or German Universities, Oxford aims not primarily to provide instruction, but rather to provide an atmosphere for the many-sided Oxford life. For centuries, Oxford has been the training school of the English gentleman. It stands pre-eminently for culture and good breeding, for a liberal education in the widest and best sense, not merely the knowledge that comes from books, but especially and above all for the knowledge of men and affairs. It is the difference between a training to make a living and a training to make a life, to put the best into life rather than to make the most out of it. The highest Oxford ideal is the scholar and the gentleman, but the gentleman first of all. A faithful reflex of English society, Oxford reflects its most marked characteristic conservatism. Yet underneath this stratum of healthy conservatism runs the current of twentieth-century life. Hence its uniqueness, its complexity, its paradoxes. Conservative by force of tradition and custom, Oxford breathes the liberal and tolerant spirit of the twentieth century; exclusive and aristocratic, the Oxford life is nevertheless very democratic; open to all, Oxford is not for all people; faithful to her heritage of the Past, Oxford is still a leader in the Present.
The ‘system’.
Yet, oddly enough, from the undergraduate’s point of view, the University is practically a thing apart, an abstract intangible something which touches the life of the well-behaved ‘undergrad’ only at examination time, that is to say, twice during his Oxford career, or on that more ceremonious occasion, ‘degree-day.’ The uninitiated stranger, searching for information in the Student’s Handbook, is told that the ‘University is a body corporate invested with all the usual powers of corporations and also with various peculiar privileges, such as the right of exercising jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over its members, the right of returning two representatives to the House of Commons, and the power of conferring degrees’. Not a word about the teaching Faculty of the University or about courses of study. Instead, an institution whose main function, as far as the student is concerned, is to hold examinations and to confer degrees. Further inquiry leads to the College. The collegiate system, both in regard to undergraduate life and undergraduate instruction, is the counterpart to the more formal functions of the University. Here is a dualism between College and University unknown to most foreign students,—each a separate, independent unit, a University existing side by side with twenty-one corporate Societies, each leading an independent existence, and yet most intimately connected with one another. If an attempt is here made to sketch this complex and intricate system in its barest outlines, it is with a full realization of the difficulties as well as at the risk of saying much that is obvious. The background must be filled in by the reader from the remarks made in the preceding chapter on the Oxford life. The point of view of the prospective Rhodes Scholar has been kept in view throughout, all unnecessary details or obscure and ambiguous terms being, as far as possible, avoided.
University government and administration. Vice-Chancellor, Proctors.
The acting head of the University is the Vice-Chancellor, the office of Chancellor being purely honorary. The Heads of the several Colleges are nominated by the Chancellor to the Vice-Chancellorship in order of rotation, each holding office for a period of four years. Assisted by the two Proctors, originally the heads of the two ‘nations’ of mediaeval Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor exercises a general supervision over all University affairs. It is the Vice-Chancellor who presides at all the meetings of the governing bodies of the University. He also enjoys extensive judicial powers. The University occupies a peculiar position not only in relation to its own members, but to the city of Oxford as well. In most criminal as well as in all civil cases, the University has the right to try its members before its own court, popularly called the Vice-Chancellor’s Court. The Vice-Chancellor, ably assisted by the two Proctors—for in the eyes of the undergraduates this is their most conspicuous function—is responsible for the maintenance of order and discipline. No public entertainment, for instance, can be held in Oxford without the consent of the Vice-Chancellor and of the Mayor.
Convocation.
Congregation.
Hebdomadal Council.
‘Statuta.’
The constitution of the University of Oxford rests on a much wider basis than that of most American or Colonial Universities. All graduates who have kept up their connexion with the University through their respective Colleges, whether resident in Oxford or not, and who have taken the degree of Master of Arts, have a voice in the government of the University, constituting the body known as Convocation. It is the members of Convocation who elect the two University representatives in the House of Commons. The majority of these graduates are not in residence at Oxford, so that in actual working practice and under normal conditions Convocation is almost identical with Congregation. This body is composed of all resident members of Convocation, together with certain ex-officio members. The ordinary routine of University government is transacted by means of standing Committees of Congregation, known as Delegacies. All University legislation must originate with and in the Hebdomadal Council, no proposition can even be discussed by the large governing bodies of the University unless sanctioned by a majority of the members of this Council. This consists of the three executive officers of the University and eighteen other members elected by Congregation, six each from the Heads of Colleges, University Professors, and University graduates—Masters of Arts—of at least five years’ standing, respectively. A new statute framed by the Council is then ‘promulgated’ in Congregation, where it may be rejected or passed with or without amendment. If passed by Congregation, the statute is submitted to Convocation, which must confirm or reject the measure in toto; it cannot amend.[50] It may be said, in passing, for the benefit of those who are labouring under the impression that reform from within is impossible at Oxford, that, strange as it may seem, the non-resident graduates are often, if not generally, the most conservative.
The College.
Admission.
Non-Collegiate Delegacy.
Entirely separate from the University in its corporate life and existence, yet federally incorporated in the larger University body, are the twenty-one Colleges or ‘Societies’ of Oxford. Each of these twenty-one States of this larger Academic United States is an independent unit, a self-governing, self-sufficient corporation, with its own traditions, and its own history. The ‘Fellows’ of the College elect their own Head; Christ Church as a Cathedral Chapter is an exception, the Dean of Christ Church being appointed by the Crown. Each College has its own endowments and its own property; each fixes the conditions for admission to membership in the ‘Society’, each is responsible for the discipline and conduct of its members, and provides for their instruction and general welfare. No one can become a member of the University unless he has been previously admitted to some College (or to the body of Non-Collegiate Students). Most Colleges require candidates for admission to pass an entrance examination, practically the equivalent of the first University Examination, known as ‘Responsions’. Rhodes Scholars, in virtue of having passed the qualifying examination for the Scholarship, are excused from all other entrance examinations. Four Colleges—Balliol, University, New College, and Corpus Christi College—will admit only those candidates who intend to read for Honours. It is as a member of some College (or of the Non-Collegiate body) that a College-man becomes a member of the University, and it is the higher degree of Master of Arts, conferred by the University upon the graduate who has kept up his connexion with his College, which confers upon him also the privilege of sharing in the government of his Alma Mater as a member of Convocation. Recently, there has been established what is known as the ‘Non-Collegiate Delegacy’. This approaches in organization and administration an ordinary Oxford College. But there is this great difference—Non-Collegiate students do not live within College walls, but in lodgings in the city, much on the American or German plan.
Residence.
For the attainment of the ordinary University degrees there are certain requirements of residence and scholarship. These requirements emphasize the two most conspicuous features of the Oxford system, features which most clearly reflect the dualism between the University and the Colleges, viz. residence within College walls, with all that this means—the Collegiate system,—and the distinctively University function of holding examinations which lead to University degrees; the responsibility for providing the necessary facilities and instruction for passing the examinations resting in the main with the individual Colleges. It is the College which must see to it that all its members who are candidates for University degrees have satisfied, first of all, the statutable residence requirements, and then that they are prepared to meet the examination requirements of the University. No candidate, even though he may be able to pass all the necessary examinations with success, can take his degree without the necessary residence as a member of a College (or of the Non-Collegiate body). This suggests again the great stress laid on the larger aspect of an Oxford education, the great value of the larger Oxford life as described in the preceding chapter.
University Terms.
For all practical purposes the academical year consists of three Terms of eight weeks each:—
1. Michaelmas Term,—beginning on the first Monday after October 10.
2. Hilary or Lent Term,—on the first Monday after January 14.
3. Easter and Trinity Term,—kept continuously as one Term, beginning on the second or third Monday after Easter Sunday, according as Easter falls late or early.
For degree purposes, however, Easter and Trinity Terms are reckoned separately, so that four University Terms go to make up a year of residence (or standing).[51]
These University Terms may be still further reduced. Michaelmas and Hilary Terms may be kept by a residence of forty-two days respectively; Easter and Trinity Terms by residing twenty-one days in each Term, or forty-eight days in the two Terms conjointly.
Residence, or, in the words of the statute, ‘victum sumendo et pernoctando,’ is no longer confined to living within the College walls. Candidates for University degrees may under certain conditions ‘pernoctate’ in lodgings.
Lodgings.
The Rhodes Trustees have decided that every Rhodes Scholar shall reside in College for at least the first two years at Oxford, except in cases where the College is unable to offer him rooms. At the end of two years of residence in College, Rhodes Scholars who have either taken an Oxford degree, or who are of ‘mature age’ as defined by University regulations, i. e. twenty-five years or over, may, with the permission of the College authorities and the consent of the Rhodes Trust, live in unlicensed lodgings during their third year. All others who cannot satisfy one of these two conditions are required to live in licensed lodgings, which are under the direct supervision of University authorities.
Degrees.
Possible to Rhodes Scholars.
The University of Oxford grants degrees in Arts, Music, Medicine (Surgery), Law, and Divinity, to which must be added the recently instituted ‘research’ degrees in Letters and Science. Special advanced courses, extending over a year or two, are offered in Education, Geography, Public Health, Economics, Anthropology, Mining and Engineering, and Forestry, for which a certificate or diploma, but no degree, is granted. We are concerned here only with those degrees which are possible to the Rhodes Scholars. As has already been stated, all candidates for an Oxford Bachelor’s degree (except the degree in Music) must satisfy certain requirements of residence and scholarship. The degrees which will be open to the Rhodes Scholar who remains in Oxford only for the three years of his Scholarship are:—
1. The ordinary Bachelor of Arts degree,—which, except on certain conditions, requires twelve University Terms of residence, i. e. three academic years; and
2. The more advanced, or ‘post-graduate’, degrees of Bachelor in Letters, Science, or Civil Law,—which can only be taken, upon satisfying certain preliminary qualifications, after a residence of at least eight University Terms, i. e. at the end of the second year.
‘Standing.’
To proceed to the higher degrees, there are no further requirements of residence, but only of standing. This consists in keeping the name on the books of the College whether resident or not, and paying the quarterly dues to the University. In practice it amounts to paying a nominal sum annually to the College, which pays the University dues for the candidate for higher degrees. This is technically known as keeping Terms of standing.
Master of Arts. This degree can be taken only by an Oxford B.A. upon entering on his twenty-seventh Term from matriculation, i. e. after six and a half years. There are no further requirements of scholarship.[52]
D.Litt., D.Sc., D.C.L. Candidates who have taken the Bachelor’s degree in Letters or Science may proceed to the Doctorate in the twenty-seventh Term from the date of their matriculation. Bachelors of Civil Law cannot take the degree of D.C.L. until the expiration of five years from the time of their admission to the B.C.L. In any case, all candidates for the Doctor’s degree in Letters, Science, or Civil Law are required to submit a dissertation which has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in their particular field.
Advanced standing.
The University grants advanced standing, Junior or Senior, to students from Colonial and Foreign Universities upon certain conditions which are prescribed by Decree in respect of the individual Universities.[53] Students from these Universities or Colleges enjoy the following privileges:—
Junior standing.
Any Undergraduate who has pursued a course of study extending over at least two years at some recognized University or College, and who becomes a candidate for Honours at Oxford, is allowed to take his degree of Bachelor of Arts at the end of his eighth, instead of the twelfth, Term of residence. As far as the Rhodes Scholars are concerned, Junior standing merely reduces the necessary residence requirement from three to two years, and exempts from no University examinations except Responsions (including the ‘Additional Subject’).[54]
Senior standing.
Three years of study, with final Honours, at some recognized University or College, is demanded as the necessary qualification for Senior standing. This exempts from Responsions and the Intermediate Examination (including the Holy Scripture Examination),[55] and reduces the necessary residence requirement for the B. A. in some one of the Honour Schools to two years. A Rhodes Scholar, therefore, who has been granted Senior standing is required to take only some Final Honour Examination, and may take his degree at the end of his second year.
Students from other than Affiliated or Privileged Universities may make application for advanced standing. Each case will be considered on its own individual merits, on the evidence of scholarship furnished by the applicant as well as on the general standing of the College or University from which he comes. If his claims are approved, he is admitted to the same privileges as students from the Affiliated or Privileged Universities. All such applications should be made through the proper authorities of the applicant’s Oxford College, and as early as possible.[56]
Certain Colonial students exempted from the qualifying Examination.
The ‘Rhodes examination’ exempts from Responsions.
Oxford System.
Students of Affiliated Colonial Universities or Colleges, who satisfy the conditions for advanced standing prescribed by the particular Oxford Statute for their respective Universities or Colleges, are excused from the qualifying examination held by the Rhodes Trust for the Rhodes Scholarships. At present all Candidates for Rhodes Scholarships in the United States are required to pass this examination, though it is probable that a similar exemption will soon be granted to students of Privileged American Universities. All Rhodes Scholars are accepted by Oxford Colleges and by the University without further test, the qualifying examination for the Scholarship being accepted by the University of Oxford as the equivalent of ‘Responsions’, the first University examination.
Less than a half-century ago, the collegiate system was still supreme; it was to the College, that the undergraduate looked for ‘nutrimentum spiritus—et corporis’. There was but little University teaching and no University life. The examination system—introduced in 1805—was gradually raising the standard and requirements of scholarship. But for a few Professorial lectures, the University did practically nothing to provide for the teaching of its members; it merely conducted examinations and granted degrees. With the widening bounds of knowledge, and the incorporation of new subjects in the University Examination Statutes,—and especially with the successful invasion—despite Ruskin’s defiance of ‘Science’ and the scientific spirit, the inevitable duplication of instructors and the consequent necessary increase in College expenditure made the need of a closer and more effective organization of the teaching body more and more imperative. One of the first steps in this direction—which also marked the first encroachment on the old collegiate system—was the establishment in 1877-82 of the new University Professorships and the extension of the University Museum and scientific laboratories. This was followed by the large development of the system of inter-collegiate lectures and by the appointment of University Professors and of lecturers and tutors from other Colleges to assist in the tutorial and lecture work of the separate Colleges. These developments have overcome most of the serious defects of the decentralization of the collegiate system of teaching, felt in the lack of continuity or in the unavoidable overlapping of lecture-courses, as well as in the duplication and the inadequacy of the instructional force at any one College. They have provided the material out of which is being gradually evolved and organized a ‘graduate School’. In the closer relations between University and College, and in this more effective organization of the teaching body, Oxford is approaching the American and the German systems.
Character of courses.
Before giving a brief sketch of Oxford methods of instruction, it will be well to warn those unfamiliar with the system against certain very natural but entirely erroneous ideas and misconceptions on this subject. First of all, there is at Oxford no sharp line of division between undergraduate and post-graduate work. A Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Honours), Letters, Science, or Civil Law can hardly be compared with an American B.A. or B.Litt. The requirements for the ordinary Bachelor’s degree in the Honour Schools are very high and rigid; all work is concentrated along one definite line. ‘Specialization’, as generally understood, is not an apt designation of the course of study. There is a very considerable amount of general reading to do—much of it in private and during the Vacations—of which the examination requirements hardly give an adequate idea. And while method, as method, is not particularly emphasized or taught, some of the original sources in the field of work are studied, and thorough scientific work is done in the laboratories. An Oxford (Honour) B.A. therefore represents much more than mere routine undergraduate work. The work for the degree of Bachelor in Letters, Science, or Law may be fairly described as the equivalent of ‘post-graduate’ work. Thorough research, a dissertation or a special course of advanced study, followed in the case of the degree in Law by a very difficult examination, written and viva voce, are required, and a very high standard is set. One of the first ideas of which a Rhodes Scholar must disabuse himself is that the path to an Oxford Honour degree is smooth and easy.
Pass and Honour courses.
Another point must be emphasized. The ordinary and traditional course of procedure of an Oxford ‘Freshman’ is to register for the B.A. degree. But this is not all. He must decide whether he will read for the Pass or the Honour examination. In the former, there is only one standard, and there are no limits of standing within which the course of study must be completed. The Pass-man comes up to Oxford to live the social life, to take advantage of all its many opportunities for self-improvement, self-culture, self-development, and, incidentally, to acquire a modicum of knowledge. The man reading for ‘Honours’, on the other hand, naturally has to meet much higher requirements for the examinations. His success is measured by his place in the ‘Class Lists’, those who have passed the examination being distributed into three or four ‘Classes’, each representing a different level of merit. Furthermore, the Honour-man cannot take his examinations at his leisure. No one who has exceeded a certain number of Terms reckoned from his matriculation is admitted to the examination.
In all cases, however, candidates for any Bachelor’s degree (except occasionally for the ‘research’ degrees), will find the system of instruction the same. This consists partly of lectures, University or College, and partly of personal tuition, provided by the College. All work, whether it be lectures or work done for and with the Tutor, is governed by, and planned to meet, the requirements as fixed by the Examination Statutes.
Lectures. System.
All lectures are sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’ lectures, and are designed to meet the requirements for Pass or Honour examinations. Most ‘Pass’ lectures are delivered by College Lecturers and Tutors for members of the particular College only (no members of other Colleges being admitted). ‘Honour’ lectures, however, are practically open to all members of the University, under the new system of inter-collegiate lectures. Both University Professors and Lecturers and College Lecturers and Tutors deliver Honour lectures, University and College lectures being practically merged in one system. The distinction between Professorial and College lectures has become one of origins only; in practice, it has been almost obliterated. Occasionally, Professors give a series of ‘Public Lectures’, that is, lectures open to the general public as well as to members of the University.
Lectures, however, are not the most important part of the system. The best and most telling work is done privately under the Tutor’s direction. There is no ‘credit’ or ‘hour’ system; there are no ‘required courses’. Strictly speaking, attendance at lectures is not compulsory. Theoretically, it is even possible to take an Oxford degree without attending a single lecture. However, as all lectures are based on, and intended to meet, the examination requirements, undergraduates find it advisable to attend those lectures which will be of use for the ‘Schools’—the final examinations. Few men go to more than ten lectures a week, and after passing the intermediate examination the average tends to become even less. Since the introduction of inter-collegiate lectures, a well-organized system of lectures has been made possible, especially in the Classical and Modern History work, Theology, and Mathematics, together with very complete and efficient private tuition. Due largely to the expense involved, as well as to the character of the teaching required, the University provides for most of the instruction in Theology, Law, Natural Science, and Medicine.[57]
The Tutor.
Perhaps the most characteristic and salient feature of the Oxford system is the personal tuition, the private and informal teaching, which each College provides for its members. On admission to the College, the newcomer is assigned to a Tutor under whose guidance and supervision he is to pursue his studies, not only during Term-time at Oxford, but also during the Vacations. The conscientious Tutor gets to know his protégé intimately, his strong and his weak points; he can gauge accurately and justly his qualities, capacities, and possibilities; he is in a position to recognize and to provide for his particular needs. The personal equation is here all-important. The strongest point in the system may be at once the source of its greatest weakness. A few sober-minded, persistent, and strenuous individuals may achieve moderate success despite an incapable Tutor. On the other hand, a strong, sympathetic, and conscientious Tutor may often work wonders with unpromising material.
The method.
An Oxford man ‘reads’ for his degree. This is characteristic. Much as depends on the Tutor, in the last resort the student is dependent on himself—on the ‘reading’ he does privately. The Tutor is merely an adviser and a guide; there are disciplinary rules, to be sure; but there are no final grades at the end of each Term’s work, and there is no actual compulsion. A man may do much or he may do little—that will depend entirely upon himself. This is ‘his business’, and so long as he conducts himself properly, the Tutor has practically no means of constraint, except to remind the student of the Damocles’ sword in the shape of the University examinations. The whole system is based on individualism—on a free and easy relationship between Tutor and taught. It is conscientious individual effort under capable and sympathetic supervision that leads to success in the final examinations—‘the Schools’. The Tutor advises the student to attend certain lecture courses; he suggests certain books for private reading, the result of which is generally embodied in the form of an essay, or essays, to be read to the Tutor once or twice a week. The Tutor makes his comments and criticisms, and an informal discussion almost invariably follows, not always restricted to the subject in hand. Whatever may be said of ‘reading for the Schools’, it is a powerful factor and incentive in the cultivation of the reading habit, apart from the literary atmosphere of Oxford, which of itself fosters general reading for the sake of self-culture. Moreover, the academic year is very short—less than six months. The Oxford man is therefore obliged to do the bulk of his reading at home, during the Vacations which make up more than half the year—a striking contrast to the American or German programmes. The Tutor’s work and influence is not restricted to the eight weeks of Term-time, so largely given up to the amenities of life. A certain amount of well-planned reading is assigned or suggested for the Vacation. This again, however, is not ‘required reading’. There is no compulsion. Under such a system the responsibility resting on the individual undergraduate himself is only too evident, and is keenly felt. The lectures being purely formal, it is in his College rooms or at home that he does his reading, his writing, his thinking. It is to the Tutor that he looks for guidance, advice, and inspiration. It is in ‘the Schools’ that his scholarship, the results of his private reading, of the weekly essays, of ripe reflection and solid thinking, are tested. With only two University examinations in the course of his three or four years at Oxford, the training of the memory means more than mere memorizing. There is no opportunity of finishing each Term’s work in succession, and forgetting during the next what has been painfully acquired in the preceding Term. It means training the judgement and the powers of reflection, introducing unity and consistency into the mass of acquired facts and of contradictory points of view, assimilating it all, making it a part of one’s self. ‘Reading for the Schools’ has its limitations and its dark side, but the best products of the tutorial system may well challenge comparison.
The teaching staff.
Each College has its own teaching staff of Tutors and Lecturers. It is, of course, impossible for the ordinary College Tutor to supply instruction in all the various fields of knowledge. The difficulty has been met by appointing members of the instructional force of other Colleges, and very frequently also University Professors and Lecturers as College instructors, who in this way become responsible for some part of the ordinary College tuition. Thus it happens that an instructor may be lecturing as University Professor or Reader on one day, and on the next in his capacity as College Lecturer. By means of this closer organization of the teaching force, together with the system of inter-collegiate lectures, the tuition supplied by each College is very complete. Many of the College Tutors have their own special field of work, or are engaged in research; but most of their time is given in this free personal intercourse with the students entrusted to them, which, begun perhaps at a breakfast table, has come to mean much more than the mere professional interest of a far-away instructor to his wards. If Oxford has been reproached for a lack of the scientific spirit and the spirit of research, a very just and adequate reply may be made in the words of a present-day Oxford Tutor, that ‘the energy which elsewhere goes entirely to the advancement of knowledge is with them (the Tutors) largely devoted to the training of character’.
‘The Schools.’ University Examinations.
At American and at most Colonial Universities, the instructors and lecturers are at the same time the examiners. There is generally a final examination in each subject or course of lectures at the end of each Term or semester; no further tests in the particular subject being required for the University degree. At Oxford the examiners are an entirely separate body of University officials, chosen directly or indirectly for a period of two or three years, for the most part from among the instructional staff—University and College—in each field or subject. Since the introduction of the examination system in 1805, the constant addition of new subjects and the growing demands of scholarship have built up a very complex and intricate system of examination requirements. These are published each year as the Examination Statutes, which rigidly define the field to be covered in each case, and in which special books, as well as works for general reading and reference, are suggested. ‘Reading for the Schools’ has undoubtedly been one of the most serious obstacles to the growth of Professorial and other advanced lectures which have no direct bearing on, and which are not intended to meet, the demands of ‘the Schools’; it has also discouraged the spirit of research and the demands for training in scientific method. However, it has the advantage of promoting thoroughness and accuracy as a result of concentrated and steady, persistent effort along a definite line of work, non multa sed multum. The standard of scholarship is high. Great stress is laid on ease and facility of expression, on the ability to form independent judgements, on originality. No one can get a ‘First’ in the Class Lists on mere hard work and ‘grinding’, or by a display of erudition and an imposing array of facts. The examination papers are really a series of essays. The examination generally consists of written papers, followed some days or weeks later by a ‘viva voce’ examination. In Science, practical laboratory tests are required. The strain of the examinations—especially in the Final Honour Schools—is very severe. The examination in ‘Greats’—i. e. in the School of Literae Humaniores—consists of thirty-three hours of paper-work on six consecutive days. There is very little opportunity for ‘cramming’, as physical fitness is a most important factor. It is quite a general custom for candidates to ‘go down’ for a week’s rest before undergoing the ordeal of ‘Exam. week’. Informal examinations—‘collections’—are held in most Colleges at the beginning of each Term by College tutors and lecturers to test the progress their students have made during Term-time, as well as the reading they have done or ought to have done during the Vacation. These examinations, however, in no way directly affect the student’s final grade. Everything depends on the result of the University examinations.
Elective studies.
Rigid as the examination system appears to be, it is yet very elastic. Not only has the candidate to choose one of the many avenues leading to a degree—no one has yet succeeded in calculating the total number of permutations and combinations which can be made to lead to a degree at Oxford—but he has abundant opportunity for election from a wide range of subjects required for the particular ‘School’ chosen. Moreover, all work for the B.A. degree—lectures, tuition, and examinations—is sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’ work, and the course of study pursued will naturally depend on the student’s own choice.
University Examinations for the B.A.
All candidates for an Oxford B.A. degree, apart from satisfying the residence requirements of three years or more, are obliged to pass certain University examinations, viz. (1) Responsions, (2) an Intermediate Examination, as a part of which is generally taken the examination in Holy Scripture; and (3) a Final Examination. The University accepts as an equivalent for Responsions the qualifying examination which every American candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship is required to pass. There remain for the Rhodes Scholar, therefore, only the Intermediate (including Holy Scripture) and the Final Examinations. As the work for these is sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’, four alternatives present themselves:—
Examinations for the B.A. Degree.[58]
| Before or upon Admission. | Intermediate.[59] | Final. |
|---|---|---|
| Responsions (compulsory). Rhodes Scholars exempt, p. 69.) | Holy Scripture or substituted book (compulsory) and one of the following:— | |
| I. Pass School (one only). | I. Pass School. | |
|
| |
| or | or | |
| II. Honour School. | II. Honour School. | |
|
|
- 1. Pass Moderations.
- 2. Jurisprudence Preliminary, with ‘Additional Subject’.
- 3. Science Preliminary, with ‘Additional Subject’.
- I. 1. Qualifies for all examinations in the next column except II. 8.
- 2. Qualifies for all examinations in the next column except II. 1 and II. 8.
- 3. Qualifies for all examinations in the next column except II. 1.
- Five Groups (see Examination Statutes, p. 38 ff.).
- 4. Honour Moderations.
- 5. Honour Mathematics, with ‘Additional Subject’.
- II. 4. Qualifies for all examinations.
- 5. Qualifies for all examinations in the next column except II. 1.
- 1. English Language and Literature.
- 2. Literae Humaniores.
- 3. Mathematics.
- 4. Jurisprudence.
- 5. Modern History.
- 6. Theology.
- 7. Oriental Studies.
- 8. Natural Science.
- 9. Modern Languages.
Advanced degrees for which an Oxford B.A. is a necessary preliminary:—M.A., B.D., B.M.
Advanced degrees for which an Oxford B.A. is not a necessary preliminary:—B.Litt., B.Sc., B.C.L.
To take (a) the Pass Examination in both the Intermediate and the Final School;
(b) The Pass Examination in the Intermediate and Honours in the Final School;
(c) The Honour Examination in both the Intermediate and the Final School;
(d) The Honour Examination in the Intermediate and the Pass in the Final School.
While under no compulsion to take any degree, the Rhodes Scholar reading for the B.A. degree is expected to take Honours at least in the Final School. That is to say, he is confronted with a choice between the second and third alternatives just mentioned. To state it more simply, he may take either the Pass or the Honour Examinations in the Intermediate; he is expected to take Honours in the Final School.
The Intermediate Examination, Pass School.
To take up first of all the Intermediate Examination in the Pass School. This may be either what is known as ‘Pass Moderations’, or the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence, or the Preliminary Examination in Natural Science. Pass Moderations will admit to the Final Examinations in all of the nine Final Honour Schools except Natural Science, and is required of those reading for Honours in English Language and Literature. For all the other Final Schools, except the School of English Language and Literature, a candidate may qualify by passing any one of the three Intermediate Examinations just mentioned. A glance at the chart on p. 77 will perhaps make this a little clearer. The Law Preliminary Examination is generally taken by men who intend to read Jurisprudence, frequently also by candidates for Honours in the Modern History School. The ‘Science Preliminary’ is seldom taken except by men reading for the Final Examination in Natural Science.
The requirements for these three Intermediate Pass Examinations are as follows:—
‘Pass Mods.’
‘Pass Moderations’ is along the lines of ‘Responsions’, the first University examination,—but of a more difficult grade. The subjects are:—(1) translations from certain prescribed Classical authors with questions on the text and contents, (2) Logic or Algebra and Geometry, (3) Latin Prose Composition, and (4) Unprepared Translations in Greek and Latin.
‘Law Prelim.’
The subjects of the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence are:—(1) English Constitutional and Political History after 1485, or European History, 800-1494; (2) Gaius, Institutes, Books I and II to be read in the original, with reference to the history and sources of the law; (3) Unprepared Latin Translation; (4)(a) Logic, or Bacon’s Novum Organum, Book I, or (b) a portion of a prescribed Greek, French, or German author, with unprepared translations in the language offered. Greek is optional, but a fair knowledge of Latin is required.
‘Science Prelim.’
The subjects of the Preliminary Examination in Natural Science will depend on the candidate’s choice of subjects for the Final School in Natural Science. Examinations are held in (1) Mechanics and Physics, (2) Chemistry, (3) Animal Physiology, (4) Zoology, and (5) Botany.
‘Additional Subject.’
Candidates who take either the Law or the Natural Science Preliminary Examination are further required to pass in an ‘Additional Subject’, additional, i. e., to the Stated Subjects for Responsions. The examinations may be in the nature of translations from (1) a prescribed Greek or Latin, (2) French, German, or Italian author, or on (3) Book I of Bacon’s Novum Organum, or (4) Elementary Logic. This Additional Subject may be taken any time after matriculation; except that it must be taken before the student enters for the Law Preliminary Examination, and it must be passed before any candidate is admitted to the Final Examination in Natural Science.
All candidates who have passed in the written papers in any one of the three Intermediate Pass Examinations must undergo a ‘viva voce’ examination in the subjects offered.
‘Honour Mods.’
Instead of taking one of these three Pass Examinations, the more ambitious and scholarly may decide to take Honours in the Intermediate Examination—‘Honour Moderations.’ This examination is of more than average difficulty and requires thorough and conscientious preparation. The candidate must be prepared (1) to translate any passage set from Homer and Virgil and from the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero; (2) he must choose for special study at least three authors from a list of eight Greek and eleven Latin authors, and be prepared to answer questions on the text, contents, style, and literary history. (3) A fairly difficult Latin Prose Composition is set, also (4) unprepared translations in Greek and Latin, and (5) a general paper, covering the field of Greek and Latin grammar, literary criticism, and classical antiquities in general. In addition there are certain optional subjects, which may mean a better place in the ‘Class Lists’. Great importance is attached to the literary character and the style in which the examination papers are written. There is no ‘viva voce’ examination.
‘Honour Maths.’
Those who wish to escape the Classical part of ‘Honour Moderations’ may take instead the Intermediate Examination in ‘Honour Mathematics’ and an ‘Additional Subject’, although this is not often done. The subjects to be offered are (1) Algebra, (2) Trigonometry, (3) Pure and Analytical Geometry, (4) Differential and Integral Calculus, (5) Elements of Mechanics of Solids and Fluids.
Examination in Holy Scripture.
All candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts are required to pass an examination in Holy Scripture. The subjects of the examination are (1) the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, and (2) either the subject-matter of the Acts of the Apostles or one of the two Books of Kings. Those who may make objection on religious grounds are allowed to substitute the Phaedo of Plato. In either case, a ‘viva voce’ examination follows. This examination in Holy Scripture may be taken before or with the Intermediate Examination; it must be passed before a candidate for the B.A. is admitted to the Final Examinations.
Those who enjoy Senior standing are exempted from the Intermediate Examination—Pass or Honour—altogether, including also the Examination in Holy Scripture.
‘Final Honour Schools.’
The candidate who has successfully passed the Intermediate Examination, Pass or Honour, is now prepared to proceed to one of the Final Honour Schools leading to the Bachelor’s degree. Of these there are nine:—
- 1. Literae Humaniores.
- 2. Modern History.
- 3. Mathematics.
- 4. Natural Science.
- 5. Jurisprudence.
- 6. Theology.
- 7. Oriental Languages.
- 8. English Language and Literature.
- 9. Modern Languages.
The names themselves will convey some general idea of the subjects to be pursued for each of these ‘Schools’. A few words about the requirements and work to be done for the Final Examination in each of these nine Schools may not be amiss here.
Literae Humaniores.
‘The Final Classical School or the School of Literae Humaniores is the oldest, and is admitted on all hands to be the premier School in dignity and importance.... The course of combined studies for this School is peculiar to ... Oxford. It is believed to confer a fine mental discipline and to favour a catholic and genuine culture.’ The general programme of studies includes the classical languages and literature, Greek and Roman History, and Philosophy. While textual criticism receives due attention, it is literary study and treatment that is emphasized. The study of the classical historians, in the original, forms the basis of the work in history. In Philosophy, which includes Moral and Political Philosophy and Logic, the work is based on Plato and Aristotle, but includes also the general history of Philosophy. The ‘Greats’ man is generally familiar with the works of Maine, Mill, Green, Bryce, and other authorities. He is also expected to be acquainted with the outlines of the Theory of Knowledge from Descartes to Kant, more especially with the philosophy of Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant, and the study of Psychology receives some attention. The essay work for and with the College Tutor is especially valuable and a most important part of the classical training received. The subjects of study range far beyond the limits of classical antiquity. ‘The dominant note of the examination is ... general culture upon a firm classical basis.’ Quite a number of University prizes and scholarships are offered in Classics.
Modern History.
This is the first in numbers and the second in importance, of the Final Honour Schools. The reading to be done is very considerable, and a knowledge of French or German is now compulsory. The subjects of the examination include the Political and Constitutional History of England, some special period of European History, Political Science, and Political Economy. Those who aim at a ‘First’ or ‘Second’ in the Class Lists must further select one of a list of special subjects to be studied with reference to the original authorities, e. g. the Crusades, the French Revolution, &c. Certain other subjects connected with the history of Literature and Art are optional. Much stress is laid on Geography—for which special instruction is provided—and on the social and literary history of the period of European History studied. The courses of inter-collegiate lectures are particularly well organized and complete in Modern History, and an adequate teaching force supplies efficient tuition. There is no special training in historical method except as this is incidentally developed by independent work under tutorial supervision. The object of this School, as of most Honour Schools, is not to produce specialists but to lay the foundations of a liberal education. To stimulate and encourage historical study the University offers three prizes—the Stanhope, the Lothian, and the Arnold prizes. Special attention should be called to the splendid library facilities at the Bodleian Library, in addition to the various College libraries.
Mathematics.
An inter-collegiate association provides a very complete list of lectures in Mathematics. The subjects of the examination are Pure and Mixed Mathematics. The ordinary Professorial lectures ‘aim more at the introduction of students to advanced study than at preparation for the University examinations’. The Professors and College Tutors and Lecturers are always prepared to give personal advice and instruction. The University awards each year a Senior and a Junior Mathematical Scholarship.
Natural Science.
The Natural Science School really embraces seven distinct co-ordinate subjects or courses of study, viz. (1) Physics, (2) Chemistry, (3) Animal Physiology, (4) Zoology, (5) Botany, (6) Geology, and (7) Astronomy.
Special work may be done in any one of these subjects, and combinations of several are possible. The course of study will depend on the student’s choice of subject or subjects for his final examinations. It is impossible to go into all details here. Attention ought, however, to be called to the excellent facilities provided, which are generally underrated. Because of the heavy expenditure which would be involved under the distinctly collegiate system, the University undertakes most of the teaching in Natural Science as well as making provision for the practical work necessary and incidental thereto. Those who intend to take up the study of medicine are recommended to select either Physiology or Chemistry as a preliminary.
Excellent facilities for laboratory work are provided for at the University Museum. In addition, there are the College laboratories at Christ Church, Magdalen, Queen’s, New College, Balliol, and Trinity. Others are in course of construction at Jesus College and at St. John’s College (Rural Economy and Forest Botany).
In the Radcliffe Library are to be found more than 600 current scientific periodicals (English and foreign), and some 60,000 volumes dealing with all branches of scientific work. The University Museum contains excellent Zoological, Mineralogical, Geological, Palaeontological, and Petrological Collections. Here are to be found also the Hope Collection of Anthropoid Animals, the second in importance in the British Empire; the Hope Library, containing perhaps the most complete collection in the world on the Arthropoda; the Pitt-Rivers Museum, containing a very comprehensive Ethnological collection; and also the collections in Physical Anthropology, Human Anatomy, and Pathology. The facilities both as regards Working Staff and practical laboratory work deserve special attention.
Jurisprudence.
The curriculum provides for a systematic study of the principles and history of Law. There is no opportunity for practical work at Oxford—‘the case-system’ method is not used. On the other hand, the reading to be done under the direction of the Tutor will afford a very solid foundation of the general principles of Law before entering on the practical and special study in chambers or in court. This School is often taken after Honours have been obtained in some other Final School. The subjects of the Final Examinations are—(1) Jurisprudence, (2) Roman Law, (3) English Law (including the Law of Contract, of Succession, Real Property, and Constitutional Law), (4) History of English Law, and (5) International Law. The courses of lectures are given and arranged to meet these requirements.
Every one who wishes to become a Barrister or Solicitor—the two departments into which the practice of Law is divided in England—must have kept nine Terms at the Inns of Court, or have served five years as an articled clerk in some solicitor’s office, and must pass certain examinations. These are not under the control of the University, though certain exemptions and concessions are granted to those students who have passed examinations at the University.
Theology.
The subjects of the Final Examination in Theology are—(1) specified portions of the Holy Scriptures based on a study of the original texts, including (a) the history, religion, and literature of Israel, and (b) the history, theology, and literature of the New Testament; and (2) the history and doctrine of the Christian Church till 461 A. D.; this is based mainly on the study of Eusebius and certain Patristic texts. In addition there are certain optional subjects—Hebrew, Evidences of Religion, Liturgies, Archaeology and Textual Criticism of the Old and New Testaments, and certain special subjects. The main subjects of study for this examination are historical. ‘In addition to this training in historical method, the School also affords scope for education in scholarship, in so far as some texts must be read in the original languages.’ The candidate has a choice of texts in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. There is a good course of inter-collegiate lectures, and the Professorial lectures offer a very wide range of subjects. The library facilities are excellent. There are a number of other institutions not directly connected with the University which offer additional opportunities for study and instruction.
Oriental Languages.
The courses given in this School are intended ‘for the most part for the practical acquisition of the language studied’, and are of special value to candidates reading for the Indian Civil Service. ‘The general subjects are Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, and History as connected with the literature of those languages.’ There is a well-equipped library and museum in the Indian Institute.
English Language and Literature.
Though but recently established, the opportunities for special study and for advanced instruction are well organized, and offer the choice of a wide range of subjects. The curriculum provides both for the philological and for the literary study of the English Language. Candidates are examined in (1) portions of certain prescribed English authors, to be studied with reference to the forms of the language; as examples of literature; and in their relation to the history and thought of the period to which they belong; (2) in the history of the English Language and Literature, demanding a thorough study of philology as well as of the history of literary criticism. In addition, the candidate who aims at a first or second class in the Final Examination must offer one of a list of nine or ten special subjects in philology and English literature. The examination requirements demand very wide reading, as well as a thorough study of some special period of English literature, or of some special subject in philology.
Modern Languages.
Complete courses of instruction are given in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and the Scandinavian languages; instructions will also be provided for in other European languages, if called for. All the Lecturers and Professors are prepared to give special instruction. A recognized authority is appointed from time to time to deliver a public lecture on some subject of modern language or comparative literature. Candidates reading for this ‘School’ are not required to offer more than one language. They will be examined in ‘the language as spoken and written at the present day’, in certain prescribed texts, in the history, philology, and the literature of the language offered. ‘This will include the history of criticism and style in prose and verse, and the history, especially the social history, of the corresponding country or countries of Europe.’ In addition the candidate has the choice of certain optional subjects as prescribed in the Examination Statutes.
Final Pass Schools.
For the sake of completeness, brief reference may be made to the Final Examinations in the Pass Schools. The subjects of the examination are divided into a number of groups, each containing a certain number of subjects, e. g. one group contains Classical subjects, another Modern subjects, another Mathematics, &c. Candidates must satisfy the examiners in three subjects; as a rule not more than two subjects may be taken from any one Group. The examination in these subjects may be taken separately, i. e. it is not necessary to take all of them in the same Term, and no limitations (except by his College) are placed on the number of the Pass-man’s efforts to pass his ‘Groups’. In the course of time the University examiners are said to be able to recognize familiar faces in the Pass Schools with comparative ease—some cynics say, with ill-concealed pleasure.
Graduate study.
The residential feature of the Oxford system, on the one hand, and the stress laid on culture for its own sake, on a liberal education, on the other, has not been very favourable to the growth of special or graduate work. The Oxford life makes heavy demands on the student’s time. An ideal of culture and scholarship (in the English sense of the word) will not have much in common with the demands of technical and professional training, with ‘specialization’ and the scientific spirit. Conservative as Oxford is, it has not shut its doors to the spirit of the times. Despite Ruskin, ‘science’ has made decided inroads and is to-day firmly entrenched in Oxford soil. The new University Professorships and Lectureships were another sign of the times. The extension and perfecting of the examination system to meet the new conditions, and the absence of any demand for ‘research’ work, discouraged the growth and development of the Professorial system, and most of the Professorships suffered by atrophy of functions and became part of the larger inter-collegiate system. This must not be interpreted to mean that all work became undergraduate in character. No greater mistake could be made. As has been said, there is no hard and fast line at Oxford where undergraduate work ends and graduate work begins. But it is true that, apart from the work in Natural Science and Medicine, Oxford makes little pretence of teaching method as method. By an extension of the tutorial system, it substitutes the direct personal contact between the Professor and the student. There are advanced lectures, to be sure, but they are purely formal. Wherever there has been a demand for it, Professors have always been ready to organize small classes for special study—on the model of seminars, or even to accommodate their lectures to the needs of advanced students. There exists to-day a very substantial framework on which is being organized an efficient Graduate School. New departments are not created at Oxford ‘by act of legislature’, nor are they grafted on to the system. They must be a growth—a natural growth from within.
With the institution of the new ‘Research degrees’ in Letters and Science[60], a good beginning has been made in the way of a school of purely post-graduate study. Recently, also, certain endowments for research have been established or reconstituted. The institution of ‘Research’ Fellowships, as apart from the ordinary teaching Fellowships held by College Tutors and Lecturers, is but another indication of this new spirit and of the new demands. Moreover, many College Tutors are working in special fields or engaged in research, and are always ready to advise the student or to give special individual instruction.
The most valuable feature in the new system is that ‘the student enjoys the advantage of being brought into close contact with those who have a first-hand acquaintance with the department of knowledge to which he is devoting himself, and are ready to give him the benefit of their experience in researches similar to his own. Professors and Readers in the University have gained a new responsibility by being brought into relations with the most earnest students in their respective branches of learning.’[61]
But perhaps most important of all for the trained research student is the inexhaustible material to be found in that treasure-house, the Bodleian Library, in the Radcliffe and the various special and College libraries, and in the University Museums.
‘Research degrees.’
These new degrees, Bachelor of Letters and Bachelor in Science, are open to all Oxford graduates (i. e. those holding an Oxford B.A.), and also to other students who are twenty-one years of age and who ‘can give satisfactory evidence of having received a good general education’. Rhodes Scholars who have taken their Bachelor’s degree at some Colonial or American University will generally be able to avail themselves of this latter regulation. All candidates for these degrees in Letters or Science—and this applies also to those reading for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (see [p. 93])—should be sure to provide themselves with the necessary credentials. They must be prepared to present:—
1. A certificate of age.
2. A certificate of degree or degrees already taken.
3. A detailed statement of work done, or published as a result of their special studies.
These credentials should be supplemented by:—
4. Letters of recommendation from former instructors and Professors.
5. A Catalogue or Register of the candidate’s University or College.
6. Candidates must present some definite subject of study or research.
Once admitted to be a candidate for the degree, the candidate’s work will be under the direction of a Committee of two, one of whom is usually a Professor, appointed by the Board of the Faculty to which his subject belongs. In addition to the residence requirement of eight University Terms (i. e. two years), he must first have ‘satisfied the Board of Faculty, by examination only, or by submitting a dissertation, which, if approved, is necessarily followed by a viva voce examination. The Board may further require the candidate to publish his dissertation or some part of it.’ Any one who has taken an Oxford B.A. has satisfied the necessary requirements as to residence for the Research degree, and, without necessarily residing in the University, he can pursue his special studies in absentia under the direction of the Committee and proceed to his degree at his convenience.
Opportunities for research. Classical studies.
There are opportunities for research or advanced special work in almost every field of knowledge, but some of them deserve special mention. It goes without saying that the student of the Classics, of Comparative Philology, and of Ancient History will find at Oxford not merely the technical facilities in the way of instruction, libraries, and museums, but an atmosphere particularly favourable to the prosecution of his studies. ‘Every College has one or more classical lecturers on its staff who have usually made a special study of some branch of classical learning.’ A glance at the list of Professors and Lecturers for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores[62] will be sufficient indication and guarantee of the adequacy and efficiency of the instruction provided. Most of the Honour lectures are of an advanced character.
The Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum (Arthur J. Evans, D.Litt.) lectures (generally in Michaelmas Term) on Minoan and Primitive Aegean Culture, or on other prehistoric subjects. There are also opportunities for special work in Archaeology and Geography. Courses are given by specialists in Egyptology, Palaeography, and Numismatics. Dr. Grenfell and Dr. Hunt are continuing their work on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
Archaeology.
There is also a special endowment for research—the Craven Fellowship, with an income of £200 per annum for two years; eight months in each year must be spent abroad. The British School of Archaeology in Athens offers (usually every other year) a studentship of £50 to some member of the University. The library facilities are unexcelled: the Bodleian Library with more than 600,000 bound volumes of printed works, and some 30,000 bound volumes of manuscripts; the Radcliffe Camera, in which are kept practically all English books published since 1851, and where most of the leading periodicals may be consulted; the Ashmolean Library, containing most of the works on general archaeology; and the various College libraries; the library of Oriel College containing a special collection of books on Comparative Philology, and Worcester College Library a valuable collection of books on Classical Archaeology. The collections in the Ashmolean Museum present some exceptional opportunities for study in the following departments:—Prehistoric and Early Dynastic Egypt; Primitive Anatolia (Hittite Seals, &c.); Primitive Greece and the Aegean; Greek Vases; Greek and Graeco-Roman Bronzes; Greek Sculpture—collection of casts; Greek and Roman Inscriptions. There is a collection of coins in the Bodleian.
The Pitt-Rivers Museum contains a unique ethnological collection, so arranged and classified as ‘to illustrate so far as possible, by means of synoptic groups of specimens, the actual or hypothetical origin and gradual development of the various arts and appliances of mankind, as well as their geographical distributions’.
Modern History.
The opportunities for advanced and special instruction in Modern History are excellent. There is a good system of inter-collegiate lectures which will be useful even to advanced students. The Regius Professor holds a small class ‘specially designed for students working for the B.Litt. degree’. There are courses in Palaeography and Diplomatic by specialists, and facilities for doing special or research work in Colonial History.
A series of six lectures is delivered by the Ford Lecturer, elected annually, upon some particular period or question connected with British History.
Special work is also offered in Geography.
Library facilities.
‘The Bodleian Library and the Taylorian Library of foreign books are open to all matriculated members of the University upon compliance with certain conditions as to introduction. Each College also possesses a library, and books and MSS. in the library of one College can usually be consulted by members of other Colleges by arrangement with the Librarian. The Bodleian Library, and some of the College libraries, contain an immense quantity of MSS. and materials for mediaeval history which have been imperfectly explored. The Bodleian is also extremely rich in collections of MSS. illustrating the history of England during the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the early part of the eighteenth century, and many Colleges possess important MSS. of the same period which have been but little utilized by historians. The Carter MSS. in the Bodleian are one of the chief sources for the study of Irish History.’ Mention should also be made of the library of the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society, and of the special collections in the Ashmolean Museum on Prehistoric Britain (Stone and Bronze and Early Iron Age), Anglo-Saxon Britain, and of the Renaissance Bronzes and Majolica, and of the library of the Indian Institute.
Theology.
Many of the Honour lectures in Theology are adapted to the needs of advanced students. Seminar classes are also held in several subjects. A special University Lectureship in Assyriology has been established; lectures are given on the bearing of Assyriology upon the Old Testament. The instructional staff is excellent. Two theological colleges, Mansfield College (Congregational) and Manchester College (undenominational), are both well equipped with an efficient staff of lecturers.
Oriental studies.
Most of the courses in the School of Oriental Languages are for the practical acquisition of the languages offered. There are also some advanced lectures, and all members of the teaching staff are prepared to give instruction and advice to students taking up any special line of Oriental studies. There is a very complete collection of works on Egyptology in the Bodleian Library and in the libraries of the Ashmolean Museum, of Queen’s College, and of the Indian Institute. ‘The Indian Institute Library contains about 23,000 volumes intended to represent very fully the languages, the literature, the religions, the institutions, the geography, the history, the ethnology, the archaeology, and the administration of ancient, mediaeval, and modern India.’ Very considerable opportunities and facilities are here afforded for the study of Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, and Burmese. The library contains a collection of 162 Sanskrit and Prākṛit MSS., and 64 Persian MSS., as well as a large number of maps of official publications of the Indian Provincial Government. All the leading Oriental Journals in English, French, and German are kept here. The Museum of the Indian Institute is a great aid to the historical study of Indian subjects.
English Literature.
Though but very recently established, the work in the Schools of English Language and Literature and of Modern Languages calls for special consideration. The facilities for research in the Bodleian, and especially in the Taylorian Library, are very considerable.
‘The Taylorian Library contains about 40,000 volumes, representing the languages of Modern Europe, English (Anglo-Saxon, Early English), French, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Modern Greek, Polish, Bohemian (Czech), Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian. The chief subjects are the philology and literature (mainly poetry and drama) of these languages, and historical memoirs and biographies written in them. The Library is specially strong in the literature of Dante, Molière, Goethe and Schiller, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Camoëns, and Old Norse Sagas. The Finch Collection forms a special library of works on the Fine Arts, written in French, German, Italian, and other European languages.
A special Seminar-Library contains the leading literary and philological periodicals on modern European Languages, the books prescribed for the Honour School of Modern Languages, and a selection of dictionaries, grammars, and works of reference connected with the study of modern languages.’
Natural Science.
There are also abundant opportunities for research and for special work in Natural Science. The laboratories in the University Museum, at Christ Church, Magdalen, Balliol, and Trinity are well equipped. At the Oxford Museum are laboratories equipped for special study leading to research work in Physics, Electricity, Chemistry, Comparative Anatomy, Mineralogy, Geology, Physiology, Human Anatomy, Pathology and Bacteriology, each under the direct charge of the Professor of the subject. The teaching in Pathology, Comparative Anatomy, and Physiology is adapted to the needs of those preparing for Medicine. Special rooms have been set apart for original research work in experimental Pathology and Bacteriology, in Pathological Chemistry and Histology.
Diplomas.
Special work may also be done along certain lines for which diplomas are granted by the University. These have been only recently introduced. ‘At present they are given for a course of work extending over a year or more in such subjects as Education, Geography, Economics, Engineering and Mining, Anthropology, and Forestry, the object being to supplement the ordinary curriculum for the B.A. degree by providing for more special lines of study.’ There are seminar-classes in Geography and Economics.
B.C.L.
The advanced work in Law is of a very special character. Most of the lectures in Law are intended for those reading for the Jurisprudence School, so that the candidate for the B.C.L. is thrown largely upon his own resources. Prof. Vinogradoff lectures on the History of Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, and also holds a seminar-class along these lines. But the bulk of the work for the degree must be done in private under the direction and supervision of the College Tutor. The examination for the B.C.L. is one of the most difficult University examinations. It covers a very wide field and the standard required is very high. Candidates must possess a fair knowledge of Latin, as certain special subjects in Roman Law are studied in the original. The subjects studied are concerned in the main with the theoretical side of legal study, with the general principles and the history of Law.
Students from the Colonies who are intending to enter at one of the Inns of Court will find no difficulty in keeping their Terms during their residence at Oxford. The residence requirements at the Inns of Court merely consist in eating three dinners during each Term.
The library of All Souls—the Codrington Library—contains a very complete collection of works on Law and the history of Law—Roman, English, and foreign. The English Law Reports of all periods, as also the principal American and Colonial Reports, are to be found here.
Several Scholarships are offered by the University for proficiency in legal studies.
The degree of B.C.L.—like the Research degrees of B.Litt. and B.Sc.—is open to all who have taken an Oxford B.A., and to persons above twenty-one years of age who have obtained a degree in Arts or in Philosophy or in Science in some other University, and who have satisfied the Board of the Faculty of Law that they will be qualified to pursue an advanced course of legal study.[63] Honours can be obtained only by those candidates who at the time of examination have not exceeded twelve Terms (i. e. three years) from the date of their matriculation. The minimum residence requirement is eight Terms.
The examination for the B.C.L. includes the following subjects:—
1. Jurisprudence (and Theory of Legislation).
2. Roman Law:—
(1) The principles of Roman Private Law, as set forth in the Institutes of Justinian (to be read in the original).
(2) One special subject.—Either Ownership and Possessions (cf. Digest xli. and xxiii. 1) or Theory of Contract generally (cf. Digest xlv. 1).
3. English Law:—
(1) Real and Personal Property.
(2) Common Law (including Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, and the Procedure of the High Court).
(3) Equity (with special reference to Trusts and Partnership).
(4) One Special Subject to be selected by each Candidate for himself from the following list:—
- (a) Agency.
- (b) Sale.
- (c) Easements and Profits-à-prendre.
- (d) Specific Performance.
- (e) Criminal Law.
- (f) Evidence.
4. International Law or the Conflict of Laws.
CHAPTER VII
EXPENSES
The question of Expense, like many other Oxford questions, is very difficult to discuss within the limits of a general statement. And yet this has arisen with probably greater frequency than any other single question since it was announced that the Rhodes Scholarships were to have an annual value of £300. Is Oxford expensive? How far will £300 carry a man? Why and how do the various Colleges vary in expensiveness? What are the necessary expenditures?
In one of its memoranda (U.S.A.) the Rhodes Trust makes the following statement:—
‘The sum of £300 is no more than is necessary to cover the expenses of the year, including Vacations as well as Term. A Scholar must not therefore count on his Scholarship as leaving any margin—least of all in his first year, in which, owing to unavoidable initial payments, expenses are heaviest. Experience suggests that a Scholar should start his Oxford career free from financial embarrassment.’
Mr. Wells, in his chapter on expenses of Oxford Life,[64] discusses and gives reasons for the various financial demands which the average student has to meet. Stripped of the discussion, his opinion is, ‘it may fairly be said that a man who wishes to live like other people, but is willing to be careful, may be at College for about £160[65] a year, out of which he can pay for his clothes, travelling, &c., and find himself in pocket-money.’ But this, of course, implies that he has a home at which to spend his Vacations, while no allowance is made for travelling in Vacation.
‘Oxford is emphatically a place for the well-to-do, or those who by their brains have provided themselves with scholarships and exhibitions.’
‘The whole tradition of the place is against economy.... The world in general expects Oxford to entertain it, ... and I do not think we disappoint expectations in this respect.’
‘At the same time ... the cost of an Oxford education cannot be called high, judged by the standard of what is usually paid for education in England.’
There is no need for attempting here an explanation of the reasons for the facts which occasion these conclusions as set forth by Mr. Wells; but, keeping these statements in mind in connexion with the following sketch of necessary expenditures, one may readily see the reason for the statement in the Rhodes Trust’s Memorandum as quoted above.[66]
£300 is a comfortable sum, but it does not leave margins to be wasted in riotous living or hoarded as a nucleus for a fortune. It will carry the careful man through the year; but Rhodes evidently thought that in most cases the Scholars would have some supplementary means—an asset, under the circumstances, very desirable.
The Rhodes Scholar who expects to live the year round on £300 should realize at once that he is not to lay out for himself an extravagant programme. He will have, in fact, to figure closely in order to make this sum cover his necessary expenses for the whole year.
There exists a considerable difference in the averages of expense for different Colleges. This statement should not, however, be misinterpreted. It is possible, mathematically, to live at what would be styled ‘an expensive College’ at a minimum not much greater than that of a ‘cheap College’ (excepting special arrangements, e. g. Keble and St. Edmund Hall). But when it comes to practice, the atmosphere of the Colleges must be taken into consideration.
In order to enjoy the advantages of College life, to get and to give the best possible, the student should be ready and able to move on a plane with the average men about him. This does not mean that he shall go with the most expensive ‘set’ in his College, but he should be able to follow Rhodes’s famous injunction, ‘Do the comparative.’
Every Oxford Student has sooner or later to draw on his bank account to meet the following demands:—
Necessary expenses for every one include—
1. University Expenses.
1. Matriculation (once only) £3 10s.
2. University Quarterly Dues, 12s. 6d. (twelve shillings and sixpence) per Term (four times per year).
3. Examination Fees (see [Table, p. 103]).
4. University Degree Fees (see [Table, p. 103]).
2. College Expenses.
1. Entrance, or Matriculation, Fee required in most Colleges—average £5 (once only) (see [Table, p. 105]).
2. Caution money. Caution money is a deposit of a certain sum in advance, required in most Colleges, in order to secure the College against loss through damage to property or non-payment of College bills. With regard to Rhodes Scholars each College has made its own arrangements. As these arrangements stand at present, fourteen Colleges require no deposit; four have required £10; one has required £20; and one has required £40; while two do not require caution money of any one. (For the sake of foreign students, the sums ordinarily required of Commoners have been included in the Table at the end of this Chapter, col. 2.[67])
Caution money, when required, is, as a rule, paid back, in whole or in part, when the student ‘goes down’ (finally); in some instances a part is retained and applied to the expense of ‘keeping name on the College books’ and towards paying for M.A. degree.
3. Furnishing. It is necessary for every student in College to provide himself with table-linen and table-ware, bed linen, &c. For instance, one College suggests, ‘2 pair sheets, 3 pillow-cases, 3 table-cloths, 6 towels, toilet-covers, glass-cloths, dusters, set of china (½ doz.); 6 each of small knives, large knives, teaspoons, dessert-spoons, table-spoons, small forks, large forks, tumblers, ... cruet-stands, salt-cellars and spoons.’ Kettle, coffee and teapots are also needed. These items may involve from £7 up, according to the taste of the individual. Frequently some of them may be purchased from the scout.
The incoming tenant often finds it necessary to purchase or rent several additions to the furniture which he finds in his rooms (see Furniture, infra), and often has to see to numerous repairs—for the furniture is handed on ‘from generation to generation’.
4. Tuition. Under ordinary circumstances undergraduates pay the regular tuition specified in the following Table, averaging £8 per Term. Research students are in some cases released from a part of this tuition, but may have to pay for other tuition (special).
5. Room-rent. Rhodes Scholars will spend their first two years at least in College. (For rental rates, see [Table, p. 105].) On an average, rooms in College cost less rental than ‘licensed lodgings’. (See [p. 66].)
6. Furniture—Rental or Purchase. It is the custom in Oxford for the out-going tenant to leave most of his furniture for sale to the incoming tenant. The College has an assessor who ‘values’ the furniture each time the room changes occupants. Some Colleges act merely as ‘sales agents’, the purchase money passing from new to old occupant through the College offices. In many cases the College owns the furniture and rents it to the student. Where rental is allowed the cost comes to about fifteen per cent. of the valuation of the furniture, per year; that is, about five per cent. is charged for use of the furniture, and ‘depreciation’ is charged at the rate of from five per cent. to ten per cent. per year.
7. Battels. The term ‘battels’ is used in two senses. In its larger sense it is applied to the Terminal bill which is sent three times per year by the College to each of its students. In this sense it embraces all items of current account between College and student (including University Quarterly dues); College dues; tuition; College (amalgamated) clubs[68]; room-rent; furniture-rent; ‘establishment charges’ (i. e. cost of maintaining College plant, &c.); meals; groceries; coal; lights; laundry; messenger and gate-bills; fines; and all extra charges (percentages, breakage bills, special fees, &c.).
In its restricted sense ‘battels’ means a weekly statement which covers dinners in hall—all meals; groceries and supplies for breakfasts, luncheons, teas and coffee from kitchen, buttery, and common-room; coal and faggots; messenger and gate fees (i. e. items of consumption and of special service).
These statements are sent out each week—dinners in hall average 12s.-14s. per week. In Winter Terms coal and faggots average about 4s. per week (less in Summer Term). The other items are entirely at disposal of the individual.
It is possible to keep these weekly bills as low as £1 5s., but this is far below the average. From £12 to £20[69] per Term is a fair estimate, with moderate living, for these items.
8. Additional Charges. There are a certain number (as reference to Handbook, [Chap. iii], will show) of not inconsiderable charges, which might be classed collectively as ‘fixed charges’ were it not that they vary in different Terms, or as ‘establishment charges’ were it not that that term differs in its comprehensiveness in different Colleges. In this class we may collect those charges which are made by each College under some or all of the following designations.
Establishment charges:—Strictly speaking, for maintenance of College buildings and current expense of the College plant; library fund; building fund; College dues; porters; bed-making; shoe-cleaning; percentage charged on kitchen and grocery bills, rates, taxes[70], increased in direct proportion to totals of other parts of battels which cover optional items.
9. Gratuity to College servants. The Colleges recognize a ‘tip’ to the scout, and scout’s boy; and small tips to porters, messengers, boot-cleaners, &c., are customary. In-College students may reckon about £2-£3 per term for these gratuities.
10. Amalgamated Clubs. The membership in College clubs is one of the ‘not compulsory but obligatory’ items in College expenses. Students are not required to join, but every man who is active in the College life becomes a member of the Amalgamated Club. Initiation fee averages £2 (paid, of course, once only); Terminal dues average £2, three times per year (generally included in Terminal battels).
These are what may fairly be considered the necessary items of current expense, exclusive of University charges, degree fees, the sum which is laid down as caution money, and investment in furniture, furnishings and repairs.
The total of Terminal battels will amount, for a man who lives comfortably without extravagance, to between £40 and £55 per term (three times per year) according to his College. This is exclusive of books, clothing, and any ‘not-College’ expenses.
11. Degree Fees. Each College charges a fee, varying from £1 1s. to £7, when a student takes a B.A. degree; from £1 1s. to £8 4s. when he takes an M.A., &c. (see [Table, p. 105]). This is exclusive of and in addition to the degree fee charged by the University.
In addition to these necessary College expenses it may be as well to have in mind other probable expenses.
Athletics. Athletic life, almost universal in Oxford, involves the purchase of one’s own costumes and outfit. Entrance into various contests costs small sums ranging from 2s. 6d. in College tennis tournaments, to £3 10s. before one may enter inter-College boat races.[71] To the man who is successful in athletics expenditure for ribbons and blazers involves some outlay, often considerable. Needless to say, such expenses should be very welcome.
Clubs (other than the Amalgamated Clubs). Membership to the Union costs £1 1s. entrance fee, and £1 5s. per Term; or life membership may be commuted at £10 10s.
The in-College clubs are inexpensive, with a few exceptions. Several University clubs cost at the rate of about £1 1s. per Term; while a few of the more exclusive clubs are very expensive.
Subscriptions. Certain charitable subscriptions, to which most men give, may average about £1 10s. per year.
Occasional Expenses. Exceptional expenses, which a man may expect to meet at least once during his three years, are subscriptions for sending a College crew to some regatta, which involves from £1 up; and for a College ball, which will also average about £1.
Rental of a punt or canoe during Summer Term is not a necessity, but it is a very possible extra, involving another pound or two.
To discuss riding and driving, &c., of course takes us into the realm of luxuries.
It is useless to deal with optional details; but when all is said and done, the man who expects to take Oxford as Oxford is, and who, while not extravagant, is at the same time not inclined to stint himself, must expect to put between £175 and £200 as a minimum into his six months at Oxford.[72]
The intricacy and the elastic possibilities of the battel-sheet, together with the diversity of plans existing in different Colleges, make it impossible to arrive at accurate comparative figures, but the following is a fair sample of one Term’s battels.
(For eight weeks.)
| __________________ College. | |||
| Mr. _______________________ | |||
| (Summer Term, 1905.) | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen and Buttery | 16 | 2 | 7½ |
| Messenger | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Postage and Parcels | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| Faggots | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Knocking-in (Gate fee) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Coals | 0 | 8 | 5½ |
| Groceries | 2 | 17 | 4 |
| Total Weekly Battels | 20 | 4 | 6 |
| Percentage | 1 | 15 | 3 |
| University Dues | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| College Dues and Establishment Charges | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Room Rent | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Furniture Rent | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Rates and Taxes | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Tuition Fees | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Glazier, 6s.; Damage, 3s. 4d. | 0 | 9 | 4 |
| Laundress | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| College Clubs | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Electric Lighting | 10 | 0 | |
| £48 | 14 | 0 | |
A TABLE OF CERTAIN UNIVERSITY CHARGES.
University Fees.
| £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Matriculation | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| 2. Quarterly dues (4 times per year) 12s. 6d.; in 3 years | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| 3. On claiming exemption from Responsions or on claiming exemption from the First Public Examination (Moderations) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| On claiming Senior Foreign standing | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| ” ” Junior Foreign standing | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4. Examination Fees— | |||
| [73]First Public Examination (Moderations) | |||
| a. Holy Scripture | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| b. For each of the other parts | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence (Law Preliminary)[73] | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| For any Honour School other than the Schools of Mathematics or Natural Science | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| For the Honour School of Mathematics | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| ” ” Natural Science— | |||
| (1) In Physics or Chemistry | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| (2) In any other subject | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Before each examination in Civil Law | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| On admission as a candidate for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| On admission or re-admission as a Candidate for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters or Bachelor of Science | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| On application or re-application for a Certificate as a Candidate for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters or Bachelor of Science | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 5. Degree Fees— | |||
| A. University. | |||
| Final admission to Degree of Bachelor of Arts | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Final admission to Degree of Bachelor of Literature | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Final admission to Degree of Bachelor of Science | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Final admission to Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| B. College. | |||
| In addition to the University Degree Fees each College requires a fee varying from £1 1s. to £8 4s. from each of its students when he takes a degree. See [Table, p. 105].[73] | |||
Note.—For more complete list of examination fees see Examination Statutes or Handbook.
A TABLE OF CERTAIN COLLEGE CHARGES.
The columns in the following table correspond with the numerical arrangement of ‘College expenses’ above.
The figures in columns 1, 2, 4, 5 and 11 are taken from the seventeenth (1906) edition of the Student’s Handbook.
It is impossible to give exact figures for Furnishings, Furniture, Battels, Additional Charges, Gratuities, and Amalgamated Clubs (i. e. items 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively), and therefore they are omitted from this table.
With regard to caution money (column 2), see ‘2. Caution Money’ above.
| Entrance and Matriculation Fees for Commoners. | Caution money for Commoners. | Tuition per year. | Room Rent per year. | Degree Fees. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. | M.A. | |||||||||||
| £ | s. | £ | £ | s. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| Balliol | 5 | 0 | 21 | 25 | 0 | £8 up., average £15 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Brasenose | 5 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 4 | £9 up. to £23 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Christ Church | 5 | 0 | 25 | 24 | 0 | £6 to £28 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Corpus Christi | No. | 30 | 27 | 0 | £10 to £16 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Exeter | 5 | 0 | 25 | 22 | 1 | £10 10s. to £16 16s. | 4 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Hertford | 5 | 5 | 30 | 22 | 10 | £12 to £18 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Jesus | 2 | 0 | 20 | 21 | 0 | £8 8s. to £15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Keble[74] | 5 | 0 | (Special arrangement. See opposite page.) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Lincoln | No. | 30 | 24 | 0 | £10 10s. to £16 10s. | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Magdalen | No. | 40 | 24 | 0 | £10 to £28 | 0 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
| Merton | 1 | 10 | 30 | 22 | 1 | £7 to £18 18s. | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| New College | 5 | 0 | 30 | 24 | 0 | average under £15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Oriel | 5 | 0 | 30 | 22 | 10 | average £12 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Pembroke | 5 | 0 | 30 | 23 | 0 | £9 to £15 15s. | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Queen’s[75] | 5 | 0 | 30 | 22 | 10 | £7 10s. to £21 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| St. John’s | 4 | 0 | 30 | 22 | 1 | £8 8s. to £16 16s. | 6 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 0 |
| Trinity | 5 | 0 | 30 | 24 | 0 | £12 to £16 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| University | 5 | 0 | 30 | 25 | 4 | £6 6s. to £18 18s. | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Wadham | 5 | 0 | 30 | 22 | 10 | £9 to £16 10s. | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Worcester | 8 | 5 | 20 | 21 | 0 | £9 9s. to £15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| St. Edmund Hall[76] | 3 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 15 | £8 to £12 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Non-collegiate.[77] | ||||||||||||
CHAPTER VIII
OPPORTUNITIES
THE VALUE OF A RHODES SCHOLARSHIP—QUALIFICATIONS—CHOICE OF A COLLEGE—CHOICE OF WORK—ADVANTAGES
There are two questions which are of vital importance to every person who is considering a Rhodes Scholarship, whether Candidate, member of a Committee of Selection, or a chosen Scholar. What advantages does a Rhodes Scholarship offer? What opportunities does Oxford offer to a man who has won the Scholarship?
The ultimate answer to both depends upon the type of man who is chosen; while two very important factors are the spirit in which the Scholar accepts his appointment and the course which he chooses to follow at Oxford.
There can be found no better statement of the qualities which are desired in the typical Scholar than that which Rhodes himself suggested (see [p. 18]). In this outline, Rhodes, consciously or unconsciously, epitomized the qualifications of the best product (in theory at least) of the Oxford life and system. Naturally, the better the adaptive possibilities of the material, the better the chance of turning out a finished product of the desired quality.
A few words may serve to emphasize the comprehensiveness of these qualifications. Rhodes’s first requirement was that regard should be paid to ‘literary and scholastic attainments’. However, to this qualification he gives, in his scheme of units, but three points in ten. He desired neither ‘bookworms’ nor ‘grinds’; but men with the broad interests of the student, which lie not alone in intense study of books, but in a wide humanity and true culture. Rhodes preferred men who, with fixed habits of work and high scholastic ambitions, at the same time are alive to the importance of guarding ‘lest our culture separate us from humanity’; he believed that education consists in giving as well as getting, and that the danger of too high scholastic aims lies in drawing the scholar away from active participation in the political and social life of his fellow students. For this reason, while he insists upon a high standard of scholarship, he gives seven points in ten to qualifications other than scholastic.
‘Fondness for, and success in, manly outdoor sports’ ought not to allow of much misinterpretation. Yet Rhodes Scholars were once advertised as ‘all athletes’, and there has been disappointment in some quarters because they are not ‘all athletes’. There are degrees of athleticism. One may be athletic without being an athlete. And it has happened that one may be a Rhodes Scholar without being particularly athletic. However, ‘fondness for manly outdoor sports’ is above all a characteristic of Oxford men. ‘Exercise’ is a part of Oxford life. The athlete has great advantages in the Oxford system. The man who comes to Oxford without athletic propensities and without a hearty interest in sports is apt not only to have a dull time of it, but to find himself in an ‘unhealthy, enervating atmosphere’. It is not necessary that one be a ‘record’ man or a ‘star’, but the athletic qualification should be given its proper significance.
The third qualification resolves itself into honest manhood and good-fellowship, and is closely linked with the fourth, which insists upon moral force of character and the qualities of leadership. These requirements do not mean that one shall play the ‘lion in society’ any more than that he shall attempt to dominate in the activities of his College. They mean that he shall possess the moral and social qualifications, the personality that will make him fit into the Oxford system; it means that he shall be a straightforward, enthusiastic, ‘social animal’; that he shall enjoy, and find interests in, and improve by, comradeship and mutual friendships. If an Oxford student neglect the ‘social side’ he will have lost some of the best opportunities which Oxford life affords.
Rhodes on one occasion defined a University education as the ‘education of rubbing shoulders with every kind of individual and class on absolutely equal terms’; and it was this education of which he wished the Rhodes Scholars to partake.
Moral force of character is a qualification which cannot be too much insisted upon. Cut off from home ties and home influences for three years, with six months of each spent in travel and among strangers, with the opportunity and at the same time the necessity to decide nearly all questions which arise without check and with little counsel, moral force and will power are not only invaluable, but indispensable assets. The question of age has here an important bearing. No definite age can be set as absolutely the best, but the general experience so far would seem to point to a desirability that the men be mature. By that we mean that a man should have arrived at a point where his experience, his knowledge of himself and of men, and his knowledge both of books and of business, render him capable of forming quick, accurate, and independent judgements, of choosing his work, of initiating and pursuing his own plans, of working without a task-master and independent of mere textbooks; of carrying his plans to fulfilment, and of accomplishing his work in spite of a multitude of distractions and side interests which will make constant bids for his attention.
There is, however, danger in choosing too mature a man. He may be so advanced in his studies or so old in his habits as to find Oxford unprofitable or uncongenial. He may be so deeply interested in his definite line of work, or ‘take himself so seriously’, as not to ‘mix’ well. He may be so set in his ways as to be unadaptable to Oxford ways. There is such a thing as too much self-reliance. The Rhodes Scholar should have ‘independence of character’ and should have ‘principles’, but he should not assert an aggressive individuality. He should be able and ready to get into sympathy with English life and English ideals; he should remember ‘when in Rome to do as the Romans’, in so far as the customs of the Romans do not conflict with his principles and ideals; he should ‘catch on’, be able if necessary to rearrange his wardrobe and his vocabulary, and to readjust his political and social vision. All this a man may do without losing one particle of his own local or national patriotism.
Rhodes’s favourite maxim was ‘do the comparative’. That would perhaps be his first injunction to Rhodes Scholars. He asked for men—the greater their ability the better; he did not demand the superlative; but he did object to less than the ‘comparative’ in any respect.
Choice of a College.
It must be plainly evident from what has preceded on the subject of Oxford, that the choice of a College is a matter of very considerable importance. Although in some ways not of so much consequence to students from abroad as to Englishmen, yet in others it is even more desirable that the foreign student be satisfied with his College environment. An English student, no matter what his College, will probably have a number of friends and old ‘school-fellows’ in other Colleges. A student from abroad, an American for instance, will be more limited to chance acquaintances among the students outside his own College. Moreover, to the Rhodes Scholar Oxford becomes in a sense ‘home’ during his three years. And when all points are considered, one’s impressions of Oxford and of Oxford men—and to that extent of England and Englishmen—are bound to be influenced predominantly by the character of his immediate surroundings.
Englishmen are influenced in their choice of a College by several motives: family associations, ‘school’ traditions, scholastic reputation, social character, athletic fame. Some men go where their fathers went; others where their school-fellows go; others to Colleges which are ‘high’ on the river; others to ‘football’ Colleges; others where ‘Honour men’ are sought; others where they happen to obtain or expect to obtain ‘scholarships’ or ‘exhibitions’; and still others—where they can.
The Rhodes Scholars will not ordinarily be so directly affected by these considerations, but will be no less inclined to look to the traditions and history of the College and the character and personnel of its past and present student body and the ideals which the College represents. The names on the tutorial list will be of decided interest, especially to the man who contemplates advanced work; but this consideration should weigh even more with the student who is going to do undergraduate work for the reason that in the former case the man who is doing research work will very possibly work under a ‘Tutor’ outside his College, while nearly always those doing undergraduate work are under Tutors of the College to which they belong.
Under the present arrangement a Rhodes Scholar, when appointed, is to send to Mr. Wylie, along with his credentials (see [p. 42]), a list containing the names of several (five or six) Colleges in the order of his choice. One has no assurance that he will be admitted to the College of his first choice, as the methods of selection and the limits of accommodation of individual Colleges, as well as the provision of the Rhodes Trust that the scholars shall be distributed among the Colleges, prevent the entrance of large numbers at any one time into any one College.
Thus it is important that one be careful not only in making his first, but in making his second, his third, and even his fourth choice. One should carefully consult what sources of information he can, and be as familiar as possible with the characters of the Colleges which he names in his list.[78]
Expense, for instance, may be considered by some. There is some difference between the cost of living at various Colleges. Yet one should not let a difference of a few pounds outweigh other considerations which, were that eliminated, would attract him to other Colleges. The advantages which one thinks he may obtain from congenial surroundings—the influence of certain traditions, the presence of certain Tutors—the atmosphere which is best adapted to one’s disposition and to his work; these should be the considerations which determine a choice.
It may be of interest to future applicants, in this connexion, to know that a thick volume of eulogistic letters of recommendation, &c., is not so highly prized in Oxford as it may seem to be in certain other places. The facts—all of them—are wanted, in a plain, matter-of-fact, concise form. But pages of glowing praise are likely to cause first amazement, then amusement, then suspicion, and sometimes rejection in certain Senior Common-rooms in Oxford.[79]
Standing.
It has been often asked: how may one know whether he is going to obtain ‘Senior or Junior standing or neither’? A positive answer is difficult. However, any one may at once learn from his own University whether it is affiliated with Oxford or not, and whether his local standing will entitle him to Oxford Senior standing.[80]
If not, he may still entertain hopes for senior Standing in case he has obtained ‘honours’ (e. g. Phi Beta Kappa, or summa cum laude) with his degree. The student who cannot qualify for Senior standing may reasonably expect to obtain Junior standing if he has a degree and can show a satisfactory record in a satisfactory course.[81]
Choice of Work.
To make the most of his opportunities it is essential that the Rhodes Scholar shall as early as possible choose the course of study which he wishes to pursue at Oxford. Owing to the difficulty of adjusting himself to the Oxford method and system, one is likely, unless he studies the matter out carefully, to lose much valuable time. As soon as appointed the Rhodes Scholar should inform himself as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, from what sources may be available, and further, if necessary, by correspondence, as to the opportunities and facilities and the requirements for work in the subject in which he is interested. It should be borne in mind that Oxford does not draw a sharp line between ‘undergraduate’ and ‘graduate’ study; that reading for the B.A. degree in an Oxford Honour School is to a large extent ‘specializing’, and that the work need by no means be a repetition of what one has done elsewhere in getting his B.A.; that the tutorial system calls for a large amount of private reading with elastic limitations, with much work during Vacations; and that this system will require in most cases a radical readjustment of habits and methods of work.
A brief restatement of courses and combinations of courses which are most readily open to Rhodes Scholars may simplify this problem to some extent. Every Rhodes Scholar has before him the choice[82] (1) of reading for a B.A. in one of the nine Honour Schools; (2) of doing ‘special study’ for which a Diploma is granted; (3) of doing research work for the Bachelor’s degree in Letters or Science; or (4) of taking the course for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law. In some cases two of these courses may be combined.
The fact that more than half of the Rhodes Scholars now in residence, after having taken their B.A.’s in American or Colonial Universities, are reading in the Honour Schools, is evidence sufficient to show that they are able to find courses leading to the B.A. in Oxford which are considerably more than mere repetitions or reviews of their former courses. The Classical, the History, and the Law courses have proved especially available.
Most Rhodes Scholars, in case they do not receive Senior standing (which permits them to read directly for their Final Schools), find it advisable to take Pass Moderations or the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence (‘Law Prelim.,’ see [p. 79]) rather than Honour Moderations, so as to begin reading for Final Schools as soon as possible.
Most Rhodes Scholars will require their full three years for doing an Honour School, unless beginning with Senior standing or giving up several Vacations to hard study. Students with Senior standing, or, in some cases, with Junior standing, will be able to finish their work for the B.A. at the end of the second year, leaving the third free for special study (e. g. for a Diploma, or for a B.Sc. or B.Litt. or B.C.L.). However, where a man wishes to take his Honour examinations at the end of his second year, he must, unless he be already well up in his subject, be ready at once for hard and consistent work.
It may be found very practicable and profitable to combine studies leading to a Diploma with a course of reading for the B.A.
For the advantageous pursuit of research work for the degrees B.Sc. or B.Litt., it is necessary that the student fix upon some clearly defined and limited subject for original work, and it will be a great advantage for him to have already become acquainted with research methods in his home University. The research student at Oxford is thrown largely upon his own resources as to method. The guidance and advice of Professors and Tutors who are specialists will be of great value; but this is in most cases limited to a few hours per Term of private audience. If the student is well up in his subject he may generally complete the work for a B.Litt. or a B.Sc. degree in two years. Or, if he has done special work in preparing for an Honour School during his first two years, he may be able to obtain a B.Litt. or B.Sc. at the end of his third year.
B.C.L.
The work for the advanced degree of Bachelor of Civil Law covers a much wider range of studies than is required at most American Law Schools; but it is not so practical. Special attention is paid to the study of Roman Law, a fair knowledge of Latin being required. The course of study includes the general field of English Law, Jurisprudence, and International Law. The work in English Law will prove a valuable foundation for those intending to practise in American Courts. Most of the work for the degree must, however, be done in private. There are lectures, to be sure, and there is the weekly conference for an hour or two with the Tutor, during the eight weeks of Term. It is very advisable, therefore, that Rhodes Scholars who have had only a general course in Law or who have had no legal training whatever before coming to Oxford, should read for the Bachelor’s degree in the Honour School of Jurisprudence, and not to attempt to enter upon the more advanced work for the B.C.L. immediately. Practically all the work done for the B.A. degree in Jurisprudence will be of value in reading for the B.C.L. degree, which may possibly be taken during the third year by the more ambitious students. Such a course of study, however, will leave the Rhodes Scholar with little or no time for travel during his Vacations. It will mean close, persistent, hard work throughout the entire three years, during Term-time and during most of the Vacations.
Attention ought to be called to the opportunities offered in Science and Medicine at Oxford, which seem to be generally underrated. The laboratory facilities are in most cases adequate and the staff of instruction very large and efficient.[83] The long residence requirement for the degree in Medicine makes it impossible for the Rhodes Scholar who intends to stay at Oxford for three years only to take this degree.
It is not necessary to repeat here what has been said about the value of an Oxford education from the broader point of view of the Oxford life sketched in a previous chapter. Add to the many opportunities for broad culture and social training the opportunity of meeting Rhodes Scholars from all parts of the British Empire, the United States, and Germany. The friendships formed will prove not the least of the many opportunities and the pleasant experiences of the three years at Oxford. The student, in whatever sphere his interests lie, will find golden opportunities, not so much for getting the most out of life, but for putting the most into it, and enriching it, with wise experience, pleasant memories, and high ideals. ‘The embryo doctor, lawyer, journalist, clergyman, politician, who aims at the highest can by the help of this bequest spend three additional years, unoppressed by anxious care, in laying broadly and firmly the intellectual basis on which his professional work is to be done.’ For the benefit of those who are thinking of entering the public service of their country, the words of Mr. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, may be quoted here:—‘We must educate hundreds of our scholars and politicians in studies of Jurisprudence and International Law; we must have a corps of trained specialists who know the minute details of each great nation’s past history and present achievements—Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries. The Rhodes bequest is the most timely of gifts for higher education, because it gives opportunity to begin this education of that class of our population which will furnish our consulates, our home offices, and our embassies with attachés. Out of the most successful of these will come by and by our foreign ministers and our home experts in diplomacy.
‘England is the best place in which to begin this work. The excellence of the University of Oxford is without doubt the training of the ready gentleman who cannot be pushed off his feet by an attack upon the weaknesses of his personality. His training at Oxford gives him that secure self-possession and self-respect which commands the respect of his fellows. Our American students need have no fear that they will lose their nationality at Oxford, for they will find the English ideal of a gentleman exactly fitted for Anglo-Saxons everywhere. The more perfectly they accept its training in this regard the more ready they will be for the great work of extending our American influence in the councils of the world.’
Stubbs said, in his inaugural address as Professor of History at Oxford, ‘We want to train not merely students but citizens; and citizens of the great communities—the Church and the civilized world; to be fitted not for criticism or for authority in matters of memory, but for action.’ Oxford has long been the training-school for the great men of England, but she has of late years made it more and more her endeavour to conform to this ideal—that is, to train men for action. Whatever the defects of the system, it nevertheless remains true that the Oxford student is brought under the influence of the same scholastic training which the rulers of the British Empire have enjoyed; and he not only sees and feels the working of that machinery, but he is, as an undergraduate, intimately associated with the men who will within the next half-century lead in English life and thought.
Add to these opportunities and influences the advantages of travel in England and on the Continent during the half-year of Vacation, of becoming familiar with modern European languages, of studying political thought, the Press and public opinion, the institutions and customs and characteristics of the different countries, of getting a first-hand acquaintance with contemporary Europe (not to mention the advantages for the study of history and art), and of looking at American and Colonial affairs through European spectacles. The Japanese are sending students in great numbers from one country to another, students who observe and compare and test—and they are choosing and adopting the best which they find in each. Why should not other nations learn more from one another? Wider experience and wider knowledge mean broader and saner judgements, a truer perspective, a clearer vision, a juster and more sympathetic appreciation of the achievements, the methods, the objects, and the ideals of the contemporary nations, together with a better understanding of one’s own country and a better equipment for and a higher ideal of the duties and possibilities of citizenship.