EDUCATION IN AMERICA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11692, 19 September 1903, Page 8

EDUCATION IN AMERICA.

♦ (By R. M. Lainc, M.A., R.Sc.) A UNIVERSI' Y COLLEGE. Nothing has been s-aid as vet in these articles of the Universities of America, the coping stones of the educational system. In the past many of the States have given charters to unworthy Colleges, and many self-styled Colleges have given bogus de- » " grees, but these false institutions arc being fast weeded out or raised to a higher level. Any American degree will soon compare favourably with those elsewhere. At present there is a tendency to differentiate hetween the College and University. The later term is generally reserved for those institutions, such as Harvard and Yale, which supply post graduate courses. In (New Zealand unfortunately Ave have not •hitherto 'been ablo to do any this class, and the lack of it is ono of the most clamant needs of our University. We give no opportunity to brilliant students whose lives should bo largely given up to research to carry on their courses beyond those of the ordinary degrees, unless at ' their own expense, and there are no special courses laid down for such. Men, on the other hand, frequently go to Harvard who ' 'have passed middle life, and have long held positions as doctors, teachers, or • preachers, in order to keep themselves abreast with the knowledge of the day, or to dive more deeply into their ownspeeia l studies; and few of the younger students who are expecting to occupy good positions in the future leave without doing a .considerable amount of post graduate work. This—no matter what the subject ' may he—is almost invariably research \ iwork. The American University seems , .to recognise more fully than its English prototype that it ii perhaps the chiefe3t function of tho University to promote discovery in all branches of knowledge. Reverence for the past does not fetter it as it fetters Oxford and Cambridge. There are, as a rule, no grand old build- ■ ings, with their long chains of medieval ■ associations. Indeed, the visitor is sometimes surprised to find what a lack ot • architectural beauty there is about many of the American colleges. It is only when ■ groups of buildings have been planned as '■':. a whole, and built by some millionaire,

that they have any great unity or beauty

'■ ■. pf structure. Still, what is true to-day, ~ * .will not be true to-morrow. The American is always pulling down and re-build- ';.'' ing.. The palace or factory of to-day is destroyed and re-built in more modern

fashion in four years' time. The State „ University of California will shortly aban- ' don its present somewhat common-place buildings for beautiful hails, with the I • 'highest fane Of learning at the. hill-top, '■- ' so that the student shall progress physic:'■'■"..'ally as well as intellectually, from session to session. A benefactress is doing this. ' At Chicago, where there are beautiful buildings, that have risen at the magic touch of the millionaire's wand, it is commonly reported—not, perhaps, -without a grain of truth—that the price of kerosene goes up with each fresh benefaction the University receives. Yet to-day, through- , out : America, many of the college buildings, though solid in construction, are poor in design; but, if the prophesied war between capital and labour can be avoided, there seems hope that there will be a .grand architectural renaissance in America in a few years' time, and the ~ Kties will, doubtless, be prominent in this y , development. ; One characteristic feature of the old- ; world college buildings is lacking there—the quadrangle. It is, to some extent, replaced by the campus and square, but the "quad," "enclosed by wall and corridor, Will never be known here. The snow would fill its courts in winter, and make > it impassable. To attempt to give any adequate des-

cription of the works and lifo of a great . modem American University in a column ?, or two would be absurd. Harvard, with I (some 6000 students, and 1200 tutors, professors, and instructors, is a little city in , itself,' and there is scarcely a branch of t buman knowledge—ancient or modern — ; which is not expounded there. It was my .good fortune to see it on class day, when JAta lawns were bright with summer gowns ■by day, and illuminated—perhaps less agreeably—by Chinese lanterns at night. Those who wish to read a. graphic description of the ceremonies of this day will , find it in "April Hopes," a clever, though I somewhat cynical, novel, by William Deans k. Howells. Of the president of the University 'I have already spoken, but I can scarcely leave the subject of Harvard without some reference to its philosophic | ' school. . It is, perhaps, somewhat invidi-

ous to single out one department, where * so many are good, but it seems to me that I Harvard is exceptionally fortunate in its teachers of philosophy." Surely no other University, even in Germany, can show among its professors such a trinity of brii- : liant men as Royce. James, and Munster- ':: '■ berg. Many think Royee. has carried ontologicul speculation a step further than the philosophers of the past. James is, perhaps, the greatest living psychologist—- ... certainly he is the most eclectic and original in his, theories* His recent book on the ;■ "Varieties of Religious Experience" can, in my opinion, only be described by the • Tfluch-abused. term epithet, "epoch niak- ,.'" k ing." Munsterberg, in the department of psychology that he has made his own, is 'unsurpassed. ? KTLs little wonder that men ■ . of such ability attract numerous students: ■:. Y«t Harvard, with all its greatness and

great men. does not suit all. Many think that it. is too large. A student may go through his course there and never be able to enter into the social life of the place. Non-residents have been known to graduate without having become acquainted with more than half a dozen of their class mates. Caste feeling is said to be too prevalent at Harvard. So it is that almost under the walls of Harvard we find growing a sma'l independent institution —Tufts College. Here there are no millionaires' sons, ond every one enters heartily into the common collegiate life. It is a. true College in the. American sense. There are no postgraduate courses, but its organisation now comprises a college of i--rters, divinity school, medical school, dental school, and school of engineering. It does not. dej»end on donations, but largely on college fees

;.;id the original endowment. Yet it. must luive received at least half a million dollars by beque>t. It probably resembl ne of our New Zealand colleges mure closely than do most American institutions: and that is why I have Di.uk' special reference to these. Like many American colleges, it commenced life as a denominational organisation, but fortunately it soon lost, its sectarian trammels, and "now is quite fiee to all Who can pass its entrance examination, This is considerably more difficult than our matriculation. The compulsory subjeota are English, a foreign language (ancient or modern), history, and mathematics. Written examination, however, is not regarded as the only test of knowledge. In English and in laboratory subjects notebooks are accepted to some extent as evidence of preparation. One is glad to see that the compulsory subjects for the 13. A. degree are mathematics and English. Surely it is obvious that in an English-speaking community, English should be required in any literary degree. The programme of prescribed studies for .the degree appears hi the calendar thus—(it is a four years' course):

Terra Hours. Languages (Latin, Greek, French, German, Hebrew: each student to take three)... ... ... 18 English ... „, ... 0 Mathematics ... ... ... 6 Physical Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology: each student to take one or two) ... ... ... 12 Mental and Moral Science (Logic, History of Philosophy, Economics, History, and Public Law: each student to take three) ... 12 Physical Training... ... „, x

It is sufficient for our purpose to explain that the term hours show the proportion of time to be spent on each subject or group of subjects. It will be seen that the course is a more comprehensive ono than that required by the New Zealand University, and so far as can be judged by an analysis of syllabi and a cursory inspection of a few examination papers, the standard in each subject is fully as high, and in somo cases considerably higher than with us. Of course with some one hundred and fifty instructors the College can provide a far more varied and more thorough system of lectures than a New Zealand College can. Like most of the American Colleges, it also opens a summer school for those who cannot attend at any other time.

it is a common idea in the colonies that there is a lack of thoroughness about American work. It is possible that in the. States, as elsewhere, there is much work done "for show," but certainly the visitor to American educational institutions must be impressed with the great attention that is everywhere paid to detail, the openness to new ideas, the careful sjtudy of theory, and, above all, the lack of that professional exclusiveness—"side" I had almost termed it—which so hems in and narrows some of our best and able* British One cannot help but feel that American education is thoroughly " alive," and that it is growing fast and adapting itself to its environment with precision, for the complex factors at work in American civilisation are everywhere instinct with energy, and are expressing themselves in the educational field as elsewhere in new and varied forms.