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CHAPTER VI.

LENGTH OF COLLEGE CURRICULUM.

Introduction-Reduction of Course Recommended in the Interest of Medical Students-Average Age of Freshmen-Increased Requirements for Graduation (Course of Study in Yale, 1824-25 and 1890-1891)-Average Age of Freshmen at Harvard-Method of Computing Average Age at Iarcard-Remarks and Opinions of Prominent Educators: President Eliot and the Action of the Har tard Faculty-Ex-President Andrew D. White, of Cornell-President Gilman, of John HopkinsAction of Columbia College-President Adams, of Cornell-President Angell, of University of Michigan-President Hyde, of Bowdoin-President Capen, of Tufts-President Warren, of Boston University-President Andrews, of Brown University-Mr. George L. Fox, of Hopkins Grammar School-Prof. Tracy Peck, of Yale-Significance of the A. B. degree.

INTRODUCTION.

The subject of higher education has been so ably discussed and set forth during late years by the leading college men of the country that it will be profitable to reproduce here some of their remarks.

Prominent among the subjects which have engaged attention is that of shortening the time required to complete the college course. The proposition took practical shape in the attempt made by the faculty of Harvard College to reduce the time required for obtaining the A. B. degree.

This attempt was made in the interest of those students who, after completing a college course take a full four years' course in medicine. By the method now in practice the average age at graduation of such students, according to President Eliot, is between 26 and 27 years. That this is an evil and that something ought to be done to remedy it is generally admitted; but considerable opposition has been developed to the propositions advanced with this end in view, more especially by the smaller colleges of the country. To these institutions the abridgment of the course would mean, for some time at least, a diminished attendance and consequently a diminished income from tuition fees, while to replace this loss a larger increase in the productive funds of the colleges would be required than there is any reasonable hope of obtaining.

The Harvard plan of shortening the course is given farther on. Another and less radical measure looking to the accomplishment of the same purpose as the shortening of the college course has been proposed. This plan allows seniors to elect the first year studies of the professional department which they propose to enter; but this plan, it is evident, can be adopted only by those institutions which have professional departments in close proximity to the college.

Age of freshmen.-Before giving the views of college presidents on this subject it may be well to consider the age of college students. An inquiry on this subject was addressed by this Office to the colleges and universities of this country. 220 of which have returned fairly satisfactory answers. The inquiry was worded as follows: "How does the average age of the members of the freshman class in your institution compare with the average age ten years ago?"

Of the 220 institutions replying, 102 reported the average age as being the same as ten years ago; 65 reported a lower average, and 53 a higher average. Of the 65 institutions in the second category 52 give the age as "slightly lower," or 'less than one year;" 9 report it as being between one and two years lower, and 4 report it as between two and three years lower. Of the 53 that report the age as higher, 36 say it is slightly or less than one year higher, 12 report it as being between one and two years higher, and 5 report it as between two and three years higher. But we must not lose sight of the fact that in a large number of these institutions the requirements for admission have been raised considerably

during the last ten years, which would naturally have a tendency to raise the age at admission, provided no improvement had been made at the same time in the secondary schools preparing for the colleges. Of the 220 institutions answering the inquiry as to the age of their students, 81 say that the requirements for admission have been raised; and of these 81 institutions the standard of 54 has been raised without increasing the age; in fact, 23 of these 54 institutions say that the age is lower than ten years ago. The requirements for admission have been raised in 27 of the 53 institutions that report the age as having increased, and it may be well to note the fact that of the 12 institutions in the North Atlantic Division reporting an increased age, 10 show an increase in the requirements for admission.

The foregoing information, summarized by States, is given in the following table.

Average age of freshmen as compared with the average age ten years ago.

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Increased requirements for graduation.-A comparison of the following courses of study in Yale College for the years 1824-25 and 1890-91 will give some idea of the increased requirements for graduation in this country.

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Greek.-Homer's Odyssey, five books; Xenophon's Hellenica; Herodotus, seventh book. Latin.-Livy, Books XXI and XXII; Tusculane Disputationes, De Amicitia, and De Senectute of Cicero; Satires of Horace; Prose Composition; History of the Roman Republic.

French or German.-Three hours a week throughout the year. Students may at their option either continue the study of the modern language presented for admission or begin the study of German in case they have not previously pursued it.

Mathematics.-In Geometry: Planes, polyhedrons, cones, cylinders, and spheres. Projection of figures with exercises on models (Chauvenet).

Plane Trigonometry: Solutions of Triangles, Mensurations, and Surveying (Richards); Trigonometric Analysis (Case).

Algebra: The geometrical interpretation of the Theory of Equations, Imaginaries, and the Solution of Higher Equations (Phillips and Beebe).

Oriental History.-One hour a week. A general view of Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian and Persian history, with special reference to Biblical and classical history.

SOPHOMORE YEAR.

Greek.-Sophocles' Antigone and Electra; Euripides' Medea; Thucydides, first book; Isocrates' Panegyric; Plato's Apology. Latin.-Pliny's Letters; Agricola and Germania of Tacitus; Odes and Epodes of Horace: Menæchmi of Plautus; Andría and Adelphi of Terence; sight reading.

Modern Languages.-Advanced French or German, two hours a week.

Mathematics.-Trigonometry: Spherical Trigonometry: Applications to Navigation and Astronomy (Richards).

ED 90-51

SOPHOMORE YEAR-continued.

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Average age of freshmen at Harvard.-The following table showing the age of freshmen at Harvard College is taken from the report of the president of that institution for the year 1889-90:

Age of students who entered the freshman class of Harvard College, 1856–1890, inclu

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a On the assumption that all who ever joined each class were admitted as freshmen. 645 years old. c44 years old.

From this table it would appear that the average age has been increased in thirty-four years by a little more than seventeen months. But let us inquire into the manner of arriving at these results. The secretary of Harvard University, in a communication received August 16, 1890, gave the average age of the freshman classes for the last ten years as follows:

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As the figures in the president's report did not agree with those given by the secretary, a letter was written to the latter asking him which of the two sets of figures should be used in the compilations of the Bureau. The following reply was received March 5, 1891:

"The table in the President's report is the best authority, as it contains all recent changes and corrections in the age statistics.

"The most marked changes are due to the embodying in the figures of persons entering the classes of 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893 (i. e., the freshman classes marked 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890) with advanced standing. For example: If a man comes from Yale or Amherst after graduation and enters our senior class

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his age is added to the freshman table of that class as though he had entered three years earlier as a freshman.

*

"As 73 men were admitted to advanced standing this year, you can readily see that the chance of change in the average is very strong. * * From what I have said you will see that the present figures for 1888, 1889, and 1890 will change slightly until the classes of '92, 93. and '94 have been graduated."

Prior to 1873 the catalogues of Harvard do not show the presence in the undergraduate department of students who had already taken the A. B. degree at some other college. In 1873 three such students were enrolled in the senior class, but the year when such degrees were received is not given until the year 1887. In order to show the number of such students in the different classes a rigid examination of the catalogues has been made, with the following results:

1873. Senior class. 3.

1874. Senior, 2; junior, 2.

1875. Senior, 5; junior, 1.

1876. Senior, 7.

1877. Senior, 5; junior, 1.

1878. Senior, 1: sophomore, 1.

1879. Not noted.

1880. Senior, 2.

1881. Senior, 6; junior 6.

1882. Senior, 9; junior, 6; sophomore, 1. 1883. Senior, 8; junior, 4; sophomore, 1. 1884. Senior 15; junior, 4.

1885. Senior, 8; junior, 6.

1886. Senior, 8; junior, 1; sophomore, 1.
1887. Senior, 1 (1883); 4 (1885); 3 (1886); 1 (1887).
1888. Senior, 2 (1887); 6 (1888); junior, 2 (1887);
4 (1888); sophomore, 1 (1885); 1 (1886).
1889. Senior, 1 (1880); 1 (1886); 2 (1887); 5 (1888);
4 (1889): junior, 1 (1887); 3 (1889); soph-
omore, 1 (1889).

1890. Senior, 2 (1887); 4 (1888); 7 (1889); 14 (1890);
junior, 1 (1883); 1 (1887); 1 (1890); soph-
omore, 1 (1889).

The figures from 1873 to 1886, inclusive, have not much significance beyond giving the number of such students, inasmuch as the years when the students had received the A. B. degree are not given. In order to show to what an extent the aggregate age of the Harvard freshman classes are raised by the methods of computation employed by that institution, let us examine into the probable ages of students who had received the A. B. degree and were members of the senior class in 1889-90. By looking at the table above given we find that a member of that class had received his A. B. degree in 1880. Supposing that he was 22 years of age when he received his degree he would have been 31 years old when he entered the senior class of Harvard. According to the method of computation there, as given by the secretary, his age as a freshman at Harvard is used as 28 years, when really he was a freshman at some other institution ten years before and had never been in the Harvard freshman cla-s. By means of such methods thirty-four years were added to the total of the ages of members of this freshman class by taking the ages of students who had already received the degree of A. B. elsewhere. In our investigations no note was made of students who had received a degree other than A. B. Of these there are quite a number; there are also students who had not taken a degree, but were admitted to advanced standing. Some idea of the number of such students in the different classes may be formed from the fact that in 1890 seventy-three students were admitted to advanced standing, while the catalogue shows the presence of but thirty-one students in the college who had already received the degree of A. B. at some other institution. The number of such students entering the undergraduate department of Harvard is constantly increasing, and this fact will of course have the tendency to continually increase the average age of the freshman classes as this is now being computed. Nor is it likely that a large number of the graduates who thus raise the age will ever pursue the study of either law or medicine, but are merely pursuing liberal studies and very likely fitting themselves to teach. Speaking of these students, the dean of the graduate school of Harvard says: “Â large proportion of these students should properly be classed in the graduate school; but many of them have elected to enter the undergraduate department in order to avail themselves of Price Greenleaf aid and of scholarships which can be given only to students of the college."

From the above statement of the dean it would appear that these students are not actuated so much by the desire to obtain the Harvard A. B. as by the desire to receive Harvard aid for the purpose of pursuing post-graduate studies, and it seems that such students should not be included in the computations. The real average age of a freshman class is the average obtained from the ages while they are freshmen, and the average age of a senior c ass should be obtained by adding the ages of the members of the class and dividing it by the number of members in the class, and not by adding four years to the average age of the freshman class, for a sufficient number of students might have been dropped to change

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