[2] Read before the National Association of City Superintendents, at
Jacksonville, Florida, in 1896.
[3] This committee made its report in 1899. The committee recommend
that any study, included in a given list regarded as suitable for the
secondary-school period, and pursued under approved conditions one year
of four periods a week, be regarded as worthy to count toward admission
to college; they recognize that not all secondary schools are equipped
to offer all the subjects, and that the colleges will make their own
selections for admission; they recognize the principle of large liberty
to the student in secondary schools, but do not believe in unlimited
election, and they emphasize the importance of certain constants in all
secondary schools and in all requirements for admission to college;
they recommend that these constants be recognized in the following
proportion: Four units in foreign languages (no language accepted in
less than two units), two units in mathematics, two in English, one in
history, and one in science.
The thirteenth annual convention (1900) of the Association of Colleges
and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland passed
resolutions urging the establishment of a joint college-admission
examination board to bring about an agreement upon a uniform statement
as to each subject required by two or more colleges for admission, to
hold examinations, and to issue certificates to be accepted by the
Middle-State Colleges.
At the Charleston meeting of the N. E. A. (1900) the following
resolution was passed: “_Resolved_, That the Department of Secondary
Education and the Department of Higher Education of the National
Educational Association commend the Report of the Special Committee on
College-Entrance Requirements, as affording a basis for the practical
solution of the problem of college admission, and recommend the Report
to the attention of the colleges of the country.”
[4] During the four years (1896-1900) since this investigation was
made, there has been great progress throughout the country. The
standard universities now require at least a high-school education for
admission to professional schools, and offer four years in medicine and
three years in law.