rigidly exclude from their teaching force the brilliant skeptic who
"becomes the center of a coterie without his gifts, dazzled by his
boldness, infected by his skepticism;" but rather employ Christian
professors who will inspire a "noble ambition that unites in its scope
the life that now is and that which is to come, that comprehends
earth-born sciences and the philosophy of salvation, the tongues of
men and the language of the city of the great King."
Likewise the State and denominational colleges and universities have
the largest freedom and independence. Their boards of management are
comparatively free from interference on the part of party politicians
and demagogues, or of those influenced by denominational prejudices.
Party leaders in the church or state may be equally liable to an undue
bias or a partisan spirit and influence which is beneath the dignity
of those who claim to represent the people in a Christian Republic.
The American college is a chartered institution, under the control of
a _Board of Trustees_ or _Regents_. These boards are composed of about
twenty or thirty representative men in church or state. They are, in
some cases, a self-perpetuating corporation, while others are chosen
for a term of years by the affiliating conferences or synods.
Occasionally, the Alumni of the college may elect some of the
Trustees. The State universities are under a Board of Regents
appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the legislative body,
or are chosen by popular election. These boards meet once or twice a
year. Their principal duties are to make laws for the government of
the college; appoint the officers and professors, and fix their
salaries and tenure of office, and hold all property entrusted to the
college, and retain general supervision and control of all
expenditures. These boards are the ultimate source of authority in
all matters pertaining to the welfare of the college.
The Chicago University and some others have a _University Council_,
composed of the chief administrative officials of the university. They
direct all administrative matters. The _University Senate_ is composed
of the heads of the departments of instruction. It is their duty to
control all educational affairs. The _Harvard Corporation_ consists of
the President, five Fellows, and the Treasurer, with the right to fill
their own vacancies. Their acts are "alterable" by the _Board of
Overseers_, to whom they are responsible. This board consists of
thirty-two members, elected by the Alumni.
_The Faculty_ is a body of instructors. The universities may have as
many faculties as there are departments of instruction. In the
American college proper there is but one faculty, composed of all the
instructors. It varies in number and efficiency according to the
number of students and financial resources of the college. The
proportionate number of professors to the students follows the custom
of the best English and German universities, which usually is one
professor for every twenty or thirty students. _The Dean_ is an
administrative officer of a department in a university, and is
concerned with the internal discipline and executive affairs.
_The Presidents_ of the American colleges are usually clergymen. They
are chosen with reference to their pre-eminent ability as scholars and
administrators. The President has oversight of the plan of
instruction, the maintenance of discipline, and is the representative
head of the college before the public. Considerable importance is
attached to the office of the President, since the success of the
college in a great measure depends on his individual talent and
character.
The American college _professors_, as a class, may be characterized as
having a living scholarship and a genuine speculative spirit,
combined with tact and firmness in teaching. They are enthusiastically
devoted to their work. There is a growing disposition to break away
from mechanical and plodding routine, and adopt an intellectual,
energizing style of questions in class work, that elicit enthusiasm
and aid the student. Lecturing is but little used. The teaching is
more of an active, earnest conversation on a special subject between
the teacher and the pupil. The instructor seeks to lead, but not to
carry, the student through the study. There is also less inclination
to dogmatize, and the student's mind is trained to habits of original
and philosophical investigation.
_The students_ in our American colleges have been well estimated by
Professor Von Holst in these words: "I have not only visited, but
lived in a number of countries, and the results of my observations of
their higher educated youth is that, though by no means as to
knowledge, yet as to the earnestness, steadiness and enthusiasm in
the pursuit of knowledge, the American students stand first. And
nature has not been in a stingy mood when weighing out their allotment
of brains! Give them but the opportunities, and you will soon see
whether they need to shun comparison with the scholars of any other
nation."
_College government_ is an important question. The college, as a
distinct and separate community, has rules and regulations based on
well-established principles, which aim to conserve the general good of
the whole body of students. The college honor can not be sustained
unless there is a recognition of authority and responsibility.
The college legislation and government rests principally with the
faculty, overseers and trustees, who aim to be liberal, yet firm.
College sentiment among students is often capricious and subject to
sudden revolutions. Some of them have strong passions, immature
judgments, and impetuous and weak wills, and authority must be lodged
with those who will sacredly uphold law and exercise a firm, rigorous
discipline.
In the early stages of college life in this country the regulations
were quite severe. In many cases the college authorities did not
hesitate to inflict upon the students corporal punishment for certain
offenses. College Presidents would sometimes personally attend to the
flogging of students, resorting to this punishment with great
solemnity. Mr. George C. Bush tells us what occurred at Harvard
College in 1674: "On that occasion the overseers of the college, the
President and Fellows, the students who chose to attend having been
called together in the library, the sentence was read in their
presence and the offender required to kneel. The President then
offered prayer, after which 'the prison keeper at Cambridge,' at a
given signal from him 'attended to the performance of his part of the
work.' The President then closed the solemn exercise with prayer."
Possibly this relic of severe college government found its example
across the water, where it is related that in a bygone age a Fellow at
Oxford, "who had been proved guilty of an over-susceptibility to the
charms of beauty, was condemned, as a penance, to preach eight sermons
in the Church of Saint Peter-in-the-East." In the days of President
Dunster, of Harvard, "no possible conduct escaped his eye. Class
deportment, plan of studies, personal habits, daily life, private
devotions, social intercourse, and civil privileges, were all
directed."
The student should feel that, in disobeying the rightful authority of
the college, he abridges the rights and privileges of every student.
The college sentiment should be so strong against unworthy conduct
that a student would as soon shrink from doing a mean action, and
having it known, as any citizen outside the college community. When it
is discovered that a student has mean and unworthy motives and wilful
evil tendencies, he should be summarily dismissed.
In some colleges the students participate in the governing affairs.
This is done by having representatives chosen from each college class,
elected by their fellow-students, who unitedly compose a College
Senate, with power to interpret the college laws, and deal with all
questions relating to the good order and decorum of students. The
President of the college is chairman, and has the power to veto the
decision of the senate. There are many favorable features of this
system. In the first place, it lessens the antagonism sometimes
manifest between the faculty and students. There are no less
requirements upon all college classes and duties, and it helps to
remove any feeling of suspicion and the semblance of espionage. The
students feel that they have been taken into confidence with the
college authorities and will get strict, even-handed justice in
college discipline. The result is that there comes to exist a more
pleasant and friendly relation between the professors and students.
Again, this system gives the freest scope for teaching. The
professor's time is not occupied doing police duty or sitting as a
juror, but is given wholly to his work as teacher.
The self-responsibility of the student also has an educating
influence, giving to the worthy and right-minded a better training for
future citizenship. It is undoubtedly true that the autonomy of a
college is an important factor in shaping the future liberties of our
country. No college, however, can hope to uphold the highest standard
of conduct by trusting to the force of rules and penalties. The spring
of right action is in the heart. All college authorities must rely
principally upon appeals to calm reason and an enlightened conscience,
reinforced by religious faith and feeling.
The general good order and morals of the students in American colleges
are changing for the better. In a large proportion of our colleges
only a small per cent. of the students use intoxicating drinks or
tobacco. All reprehensible conduct must be carried on so secretly as
to elude the college authorities. Those disposed to do evil represent
only a very small proportion of the great body of students, but these
give occasion for some supercilious and conceited correspondent of the
public press severely to criticise the college government, and to give
gross caricatures and exaggerated statements of the mischief done by
this small percentage of students, and then include the entire
academic body in the same general censure. It is generally believed by
those qualified to know that the average morals and good conduct of
the students in college are much better than those of the same number
of young men outside the college community.
The chartered colleges are entitled to confer _degrees_ as a measure
of honor the college wishes to bestow on men and women of merit. This
privilege has been so much abused by some colleges that a little
confusion arises as to the true value and significance of the degrees
conferred. In 1890, there were 8,290 degrees conferred in course or on
examination, and 727 honorary degrees, by 415 colleges and
professional schools.
In the best American colleges, the student completing the classical
course receives the degree of _Bachelor of Arts_ (A. B.)--_bas
chevalier_, a knight of low degree; it signifies "inception in arts."
If the student, after taking his bachelor's degree, pursues for a few
years some literary or scientific study, he may receive the degree of
Master of Arts (A. M.), meaning fitness to teach, a title which began
to be conferred in the twelfth century. These degrees are granted as a
reward of merit, based on examination and general fitness. The degrees
of Doctor of Divinity (D. D.) and Doctor of Laws (LL. D.) are granted
as honorary degrees to men of pre-eminent ability or for conspicuous
services. The student who completes a college course or its
equivalent, and follows it with a professional course in a university,
receives a degree recognizing the fact. Schools of Theology confer the
degree of Bachelor of Divinity (D. B.) Schools of Law, Bachelor of Law
(LL. B.), and Schools of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine (M. D.)
A post-graduate course of study, looking to the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy (Ph. D.), has reference not so much to the professional and
practical side of life as to the original investigation and
exploration of a special subject, with no other immediate aim than the
discovery of truth and a philosophical insight into the same. The
student, before receiving the degree in the best universities, is
required, at the close of his post-graduate work, to write a thesis
which would be regarded as an original contribution to the subject
discussed.
There is no practical uniformity in the scope and requirement of the
work for this degree. The Doctor's degree should stand in this
country, as it does in Europe, for research, and a general knowledge
of philosophy, with ability to open up original sources of
information. The student should be a resident graduate for at least
one year, and after rigorous examination be required to contribute
something to the advancement of knowledge, and withal be a man of good
character and judgment, before receiving this most desirable degree in
American and European universities. With such a uniform standard, this
degree will not likely depreciate in public esteem, but have, as all
degrees should, a uniform value. A federation of colleges may help to
attain this end.
College degrees are not essential to a man's success in life, but when
they are obtained as a reward of merit have a certain social value
which usually insures a speedier entrance into any chosen field of
work.
Another characteristic of American colleges is that they are _endowed_
either by churches, by the state or by individual donors. The
endowment is generally in the form of property or stocks yielding an
annual revenue. It may be a sum of money given to the college, to be
loaned and the interest to be permanently appropriated to the support
of professors or applied to the current expenses. The amount necessary
to endow a professorship varies from twenty-five to fifty thousand
dollars. The fund thus given remains intact, and the interest or
revenue of it alone is used to carry out the purpose of the donor.
No college of a high grade can exist without a generous endowment or
aid from some source. Education in the colleges and universities
throughout the world is given almost as a gratuity. It is maintained
principally through the benefactions of wealthy men who erect
buildings, found professorships and establish libraries for the use of
others.
The resources of American colleges surpass those of any other country
in the world. In 1890, the value of grounds, buildings and apparatus
for 378 colleges in the United States was $77,894,729, and the
productive fund of 315 colleges aggregated $74,090,415. In Germany,
the twenty-two universities are national property, and are supported
out of the national treasury at a large annual expense. The annual
incomes of Oxford and Cambridge in England aggregate more than
$3,500,000.
Many of the American colleges have wealthy foundations. Harvard
College has in grounds, buildings and productive endowment the sum of
$12,000,000, with an income in 1892 of $978,881.92. Columbia College
claims $13,000,000, with an annual income of $629,000. The estimated
value of the funds of Cornell College is $9,000,000, with an annual
income of more than $400,000, and Johns Hopkins University has
$5,000,000 endowment. In 1892, Yale College had $4,019,000, with an
annual income of $520,246. The Northwestern University has nearly
$3,000,000 endowment and an annual income of $225,000. Boston
University has more than $1,500,000 endowment and an annual income of
$160,000. Chicago University is one of our youngest universities, and
yet it has in property and endowment $7,500,000. These are only a
small portion of the 415 colleges and universities in this country
whose aggregate wealth and income are a source of satisfaction to all
the friends of higher education.
The munificence of the wealthy men of this nation in behalf of higher
education has excited the surprise and admiration of the old world.
Within the last quarter of a century nearly seventy-five million
dollars has been given for this cause. We recall with satisfaction
some of these distinguished donors: George Peabody left $6,000,000 of
his estate to the cause of education; Isaac Rich, $1,000,000 to Boston
University; Johns Hopkins, $3,140,000 to found a university in
Baltimore which bears his name; Asa Packard gave $3,000,000 to Lehigh
University; D. B. Fayerweather left a bequest of nearly $3,000,000 to
various colleges; Cornelius Vanderbilt gave $1,000,000 to the
Vanderbilt University; John C. Green gave $1,500,000 to Princeton
College; Amasa Stone, $600,000 to Adelbert College; George I. Seney,
$450,000 to Wesleyan University; Matthew Vassar, $800,000 to Vassar
College for women; John D. Rockefeller's gifts to the Chicago
University aggregate $4,500,000, and Leland Stanford's estate will
yield from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 for the university that bears
his name on the Pacific Coast. These men and a host of others will be
remembered through succeeding generations for their generous
liberality. The wisdom of these noble benefactions commends itself to
the enlightened judgment of all good citizens. We believe, with
President Schurman, that "the heart behind American wealth is at the
bottom generous and discerning, and so long as money can foster
intelligence, that heart will not suffer our civilization to become a
prey to ignorance, brutishness and stupid materialism. No one knows
better than the millionaire that man lives not by bread alone." The
colleges are not founded to make money but to benefit the public by
training and fitting men for the highest service. The majority of the
students in American colleges are of limited means. If it were
possible to sustain a first-class college by means of the income from
students, the tuition would be so high as to limit the great advantage
of a higher education to a few children of rich men. The annual cost
of each undergraduate to the University at Oxford is $700, at
Cambridge $600, and at Harvard $300. If the actual expenses of running
a college of high grade were divided proportionately among the
students, they would have to pay three or four times the amount they
now do for tuition. It is important that these educational advantages
and incentives come within the reach of the humblest youth of the
Republic, in order that they may be productive of the noblest manhood
and womanhood.
Time and experience confirm the claim that the wisest and most
permanent use of money is to help endow a college. Large wealth
imposes obligations to make the best and most permanent use of it.
Every man of means ought to be a patron of learning, because it yields
the most satisfactory returns. "What better gift can we offer the
Republic," says Cicero, "than to teach and instruct the youth."
Wendell Phillips says that "education is the only interest worthy
deep, controlling anxiety of thoughtful men," and President Gilman
makes an equally forcible statement when he says that "to be concerned
in the establishment of a university is one of the noblest and most
important tasks ever imposed on a community or on a set of men."
Many of our denominational colleges are parsimoniously sustained. If
their constituency, both rich and poor, would become imbued with the
spirit of the Colonial fathers, and arouse themselves to give
liberally, their power and influence would be multiplied a hundred
fold. "Let it not be forgotten," says President Thwing, "that if the
college and university have large need of the wealth of the community,
this wealth has yet a larger need of the college and university.
Without the aid of the higher education in the past, much of the
wealth could not have been created; and without the higher education
of the present, wealth would now become sordid; gold-dust is no less
dust because it is golden. The rich man needs the college as his
beneficiary to help him to be a noble man quite as much as the college
needs his benefactions to help it make noble men. A college in poverty
can make men; a rich man (or a poor man, indeed,) cannot hoard in
meanness without degradation of manhood." The colleges are the
agencies to help call out the constructive talent of the nation. They
open the pathway of opportunity to every young man and woman who
desires to do the most for himself and humanity. Each one may link
himself through his means and prayers to these powerful agencies for
good.
IV.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE--A SYMMETRICAL DEVELOPMENT.
The function of the American college is to train and develop all the
human powers and faculties and help the student to attain a complete
individuality. The broadest educational theory estimates the worth of
all the human powers and has the highest notion of personality, the
development of which demands the impact of physical, intellectual,
moral, and religious forces. A rounded human development provides for
the fullest and freest exercise of all the powers of being. "Culture,"
says Matthew Arnold, "is a harmonious expansion of all the powers
which make the beauty and worth of human nature, and is not
consistent with the over-development of any one power at the expense
of the rest."
Man is a unit, but inasmuch as God has endowed him with various
capacities, his highest glory should be to develop them. The only
limit to the college student is his native abilities and aptitudes,
modified by the parental training, various social influences, and the
preliminary discipline in the public schools. The college that
receives the students, with their different aims and predilections and
acquirements, and leads them to appreciate the greater possibilities
of their natures, and arouses and encourages them to strive for their
fullest development, is worthy of confidence and support.
A symmetrically developed manhood or womanhood implies _the training
of the mind to think accurately and systematically_. The tried and
historic conception of education is expressed in the Latin word,
_educare_: to lead out. It is to draw out of the living soul, by the
aid of books, appliances, and instructors, all its latent capacities,
to help in the formation of correct intellectual habits, and
pre-eminently to form character, and thus to enrich and broaden the
whole range of life. The purpose of a liberal education is not to cram
the mind with facts and principles, but "to build up and build out the
mind" by the natural process of growth, so that all knowledge from
without will be assimilated by a living mental organism. The important
work of the college is to develop intellectual power. It is to aid in
giving such a directive power of mind as will enable the student, by a
fixed determination, to recall facts, apply principles, and perform
acts as if they were spontaneous. It is so to train the judgment and
reasoning faculties of the student that in the end he will have
acquired power to do earnest intellectual work.