CHAPTER XXIII.

LENGTH OF THE COLLEGE COURSE.

Owing to the increased requirements for admission to college, the extension in recent years of the professional courses of study, and the consequent advanced age at which college graduates begin their professional careers, the subject of shortening the college course of study has received considerable attention from the presidents and faculties of some of the leading institutions of the country.

As early as 1850 Brown University, at the suggestion of President Francis Wayland, rearranged the courses of study in order that the institution might increase the number of its students and become more useful to the community that it served. Among the reasons stated for the change may be mentioned the following:

Many young men who intend to enter the professions are unwilling or unable to spend four years in the preparatory studies of college. They would, however, cheerfully spend one or two years in such study if they were allowed to select such branches of science as they chose. This class would probably form an important addition to our numbers, and we would thus, in some degree, improve the education of a large portion of all the professions."

It will thus be seen that the liberal education of professional men and the devising of means whereby the period of preparation for their careers might be shortened was receiving consideration at that early date.

In accordance with the recommendation of President Wayland the requirements of Brown University for the several degrees were modified. The catalogue for 1850-51 states:

It is the design of the corporation to require for the degree of bachelor of arts and of philosophy an amount of study which may be accomplished in three years, but which may, if he pleases, occupy the student profitably for four years; and to require for the degree of master of arts an amount of study which may be accomplished in four years, but which, if generously pursued, may occupy the student with advantage a considerably longer time.

Again, the catalogue for 1851-52 states:

The degree of bachelor of arts is designed especially for those who desire to prepare themselves for the different professions and yet, from unavoidable circumstances, are unable to pursue a complete course of liberal education. In order to render it accessible to such students the number of studies is limited and a large liberty of choice is granted, that they may be enabled to select such studies as will the better enable them to prepare themselves for a particular profession.

The requirements for admission in 1850 were stated as follows:

No student shall be admitted a candidate for the degree of bachelor or master of arts unless he sustain his examinations satisfactorily in arithmetic, ancient and modern geography, English grammar and the use of the English language, and in the Latin and Greek languages. He shall be able to translate and analyze grammatically the Greek Reader, or an equivalent portion of some classical Greek author, the Eneid of Virgil, Caesar's Commentaries, and six orations of Cicero, or an equivalent amount of Latin, and be able to translate English into Latin and Greek.

a History of Higher Education in Rhode Island, by William H. Tolman, p. 130.

The requirements for the degree of bachelor of arts were as follows.

First. Ancient languages for two years, mathematics for two years, English literature and two other courses for one year each; or, Second. One ancient language for two years, two modern languages, mathematics for two years, English literature and two other courses of one year each; or, Third. One ancient language for one year, mathematics for one year, one modern language, English literature, and four other courses of one year each.

The three years' course leading to the degree of bachelor of arts was maintained during the presidency of Dr. Wayland, but was abandoned after the accession of Dr. Barnas Sears. In 1857 the corporation decided to return to the old custom of conferring the degree of bachelor of arts after a course of four years and the degree of master of arts on such persons only as already had obtained the bachelor's degree. One of the reasons advocated for the shortening of the college course at the present time is that the course of study now is at least two years in advance of what it was in 1860. In this connection it may be interesting to quote from a statement made by President Wayland in 1842, comparing the college course as it then was with the course as originally established. He says:

We see that the college course, at the period of its first establishment, commenced substantially where it commences now. The same time, four years, has been allotted to it in both cases. But let us observe the different amount of knowledge for which in the two cases the college system is held responsible. The mathematical course has been greatly extended. The same is true of natural philosophy in all its branches. Optics has become nearly a distinct science. Chemistry, geology, and political economy have since that time almost begun to exist. Intellectual philosophy and rhetoric have been either added to the course or else have been greatly enlarged, and the same may be said of physiology, a

While the number of subjects included in the college course has increased very rapidly, the requirements for admission have also been raised to a very large extent. In the early days of our American colleges very little beyond Latin and Greek was required for admission. The great advance that has been made in this direction is shown very clearly in the admission requirements of Harvard University at various dates in its history. The requirements in 1642, 1734, 1803, 1825, 1850, 1875, and 1885 are given in the following tabular statement and are followed by the requirements in 1902. Owing to the large number of subjects from which candidates are now allowed to select in fulfilling the admission requirements it is impossible to incorporate those of 1902 in a comparative tabular statement.

<Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System of the United States, by Francis Wayland, p. 80.