TRAINING COLLEGE TEACHERS 593 



could only half the ideal number of student-teachers be secured, 

 undergraduate instruction could still be revolutionized; if in no better 

 way, then by putting half the students in small sections one semester, 

 and the other half there the next. With a little careful adjusting 

 of schedules, most students would then receive close attention in two 

 of four departments each semester. 



3. It would not add one dollar to the annual budget, but, on the 

 other hand, would actually reduce the latter by a considerable sum, 

 inasmuch as many assistants could be dispensed with. It is impossible 

 to compute accurately here, for the necessity of assistantships varies 

 greatly from department to department. In the natural sciences, for 

 instance, laboratory helpers will always be needed, however many stu- 

 dent-teachers there are. But, in the freshman and sophomore work, 

 the assistants in most of the departments only correct papers, hold 

 quizes, etc. — all of which could as well be done — and better — by the 

 student-teacher, who would have time for it and ought to learn it. If, 

 now, we assume that only half of the assistants now employed in our 

 leading colleges are doing such work, we shall find that our system would 

 reduce the yearly running expenses of Brown by $2,522, those of Cali- 

 fornia by $14,025, those of Harvard by $7,808, those of Chicago by 

 $9,990, and those of Columbia by $17,500. These estimates are based 

 upon the number of assistantships and the average salaries of the same 

 as given in the second bulletin of the Carnegie Foundation. Half of 

 these savings, devoted to small scholarships for worthy student-teachers, 

 would doubtless help materially in maintaining the quality of candi- 

 diates. Part of the other half, added to the salary of those professors 

 who supervised the staff of student-teachers, would stimulate competent 

 men to turn from research and graduate teaching to education. At 

 universities with good pedagogical departments, not a single new chair 

 would have to be created ; the general pedagogical work of the student- 

 teacher's first graduate year is already offered, while the special courses 

 for history teaching, mathematics teaching, etc., may be given by the 

 already installed professors of these subjects. Probably every uni- 

 versity of rank has, in each department, at least one man who can 

 give such courses. He is, I fear, often inconspicuous, thanks to the 

 overshadowing discoveries and books of his colleagues; but he can, for 

 all that, be found and turned into his proper work. 



4. It will hasten the differentiation between college and university. 

 And, while these two institutions are still " siamesed," it will provide 



2 



'As closely as I can estimate from the Harvard catalogue, individual 

 training in English could be given at Cambridge, if the present staflF were 

 augmented by only 25 student-teachers, and the 11 assistants now employed 

 dispensed with. Were the latter converted into student-teachers, the depart- 

 ment would have to find only 14 more graduate students, in order to fulfil the 

 very severe conditions named. 



