Colleges in America

by John Marshall Barker

"The modern university," says Professor Josiah Royce, "has its highest business, to which all else is subordinate, the organization and advance of learning. Not that the individual minds are now neglected. They are wisely guarded as the servants of the one great cause. But the real mind which the university has to train is the mind of the nation—that concrete social mind whereof we all are ministers and instruments. The daily business of the university is, therefore, first of all, the creation and the advance of learning, as the means whereby the national mind can be trained."

The constructive intellectual spirit so paramount in the university begins in the college. The more formal methods of disciplinary work at the beginning of a collegiate course gradually shade off, during the closing years, into the methods and spirit of original discovery adopted in university work. In the college there is kindled in the student the love of new truth and an enthusiasm for the advancement of learning. He is led to undertake creative work, and become an active, intellectual producer, with aspirations to widen the horizon of thought and weave the best results of his discoveries into the warp and woof of the social organism.

The steps leading up to the important period in the student's life where research is for the sake of fruitfulness are traceable in the historic development and requirements of college studies. In nearly all the colleges there is manifest a growing spirit of freedom in pursuing a course of study. There is little doubt that elective courses of study are a recognized necessity and benefit. It remains, however, an open question what studies should be required and what elected, and when the work of specialization should begin. If we keep in view the fact that the primary aim of a college education is to elevate and broaden the student by training him to clear and exact thought and accurate observation and expression, we will see that, whatever the course or subject of study chosen, it is only the means to this end.

Required studies should be based upon the principle of the instrumental, substantive and interpretative elements in a liberal education. For example, the study of language is important as the instrument of thought. A knowledge of the rich and copious foreign languages opens up the wisdom of the past and present, and their study develops memory and precision, as well as stimulates and provokes thought. A knowledge of some of them is essential to the highest professional success. The student who can read and appreciate the foreign languages and appropriate their contents has a decided advantage.

Mathematics is, likewise, an instrument of thought. It is the foundation of the physical sciences and the framework of the material universe. Its study trains the mind to think in relations and quantities, and helps to obviate loose and confused thinking. Logic and psychology are also important factors in developing the power of orderly and protracted thought.

The substantive element in a liberal education is found in the study of the natural and moral sciences. The study of them is both attractive and stimulating, and helps to store the mind with useful facts and principles. A general study of science should be required. A knowledge of any favorite science involves in some measure a knowledge of others. Physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, are all more or less related. There is an interacting and interweaving of the facts and principles. Aside from the information imparted, there is no other class of study that will so effectively train the mind to accurate habits of observation.

Philosophy is the interpretative element in education, and helps to give unity to our knowledge. No one can reasonably lay claim to be liberally educated who has not some knowledge of the philosophical principles which underlie and explain the phenomena of history and life.

These required studies should be embraced and upheld in all college courses in order to give unity and consistency to the knowledge of the student. The value of these different studies cannot be reasonably doubted. The colleges of the past developed strength by studying these few subjects. No technical studies or professional training can be substituted for this scholastic training. The professional man especially needs this general culture, in order to escape the danger of concentrating and contracting his intellectual interest. Colleges may vigorously adhere to these scholarly requirements, and yet advantageously introduce the elective system. The student must have depth as well as breadth of scholarship. This can be effectively done by the specialization which the elective system affords. The character of the different studies chosen, however, should have a cohesive and logical connection in order to secure concentration and attain the best results.

The student who has had the advantages of a thorough preliminary training for admission to college, and has done faithful work in the required studies of the Freshman and Sophomore years, should have acquired such mental discipline and reached such a plane of scholarship that he is prepared for the more advanced work in special studies looking toward his life work. He should then be allowed to choose, within reasonable limits, those subjects for study during the Junior and Senior years in which his natural aptitudes and modes of thought would lead him to seek the highest degree of proficiency. This plan accords with the German system of education at the point where the student leaves the required work of the gymnasium and enters upon the elective work of the university. The most aggressive colleges in America have adopted this method, and are satisfied with the results.

The elective system is beset with difficulties. Liberty is always subject to abuse, but the best attainments are found where negligence and mental trifling are possible. The advantages, however, are many. When the student decides upon a course of study suited to his real or imaginary needs, he exhibits more enthusiasm than if it is imposed. He is spurred on to his best effort, and develops personal power in original work. He gains depth and breadth of training, and is better fitted for more extended study in a university where the means and facilities are unlimited for the highest attainments in technical and professional training.