SMALL COLLEGES 59 



They prevail to-day in the " small colleges," for students' year books, 

 with half-tone portraits of the faculty, prove that youthful professors 

 abound. But the conditions have changed in the larger colleges, for 

 they have recognized not only the need of a higher standard, but also 

 the necessity for subdivision of the classes to give opportunity for better 

 teaching. In those one finds a head professor with others known as 

 instructors or assistant professors. The age of these associates averages 

 not far from thirty years and, for the most part, they are men of experi- 

 ence in their work. In the " small college " on the contrary, all alike 

 are professors, be they elderly men or callow youth. It is difficult to 

 understand how a young man as professor in a small college can be 

 more efficient as teacher or guide than he would be if called instructor 

 or assistant professor in a large college. Perhaps there may be some- 

 thing in the atmosphere which hastens maturity and renders experience 

 unnecessary. 



It is very true that in the larger colleges, as indeed in some of the 

 " small colleges," the fatherly president has been replaced by a business 

 president, whose duties as administrator prevent him from coming into 

 close contact with the students and lessen his efficiency as head of the 

 educational work — and one can not help regretting that this new officer 

 has retained the old title, since the duties are so different. Yet the old 

 officer remains, at least in the larger colleges, though under a different 

 name. A university is not a mass of several thousand students; it is 

 made up of small units or schools, each of which has its dean, who deals 

 with the students directly as did the old-time president. In many 

 institutions, the guardianship is still closer than formerly, each student 

 being placed in direct relation to some member of the faculty, who is 

 required to look after him. Arrangements for personal supervision and 

 opportunities for association with teachers are many times better than 

 they were of old. The supposition that in ante-bellum days there was 

 any genuine intimacy between professors and students does not accord 

 with the facts. The two bodies were in opposing camps and the time 

 of faculty meetings was consumed largely in discussion of discipline 

 cases — a condition wholly unknown now in the stronger colleges. 



The " old inhabitant " remembers some severe storms of his youth 

 and asserts that the climate has changed because old-fashioned winters 

 are so rare. The " old boy " remembers some sympathetic professor, 

 who loved boys because they were boys, and thinks of him as the type 

 of his time. The one forgets the more numerous mild winters, the 

 other forgets the more numerous indifferent professors ; each remembers 

 only that which made the deeper impression and each is surprised, 

 almost indignant, when the record proves his memory defective. Facul- 

 ties in the olden time were like faculties now; what change there is is 



