i88i3 Evolution of the College Curriculum 



convinced of the folly of making education hang on 

 any one peg. 



Advanced work, also, has higher training value Thorough- 

 than the elementary, and to have it in some one ""^-'^ . , 

 line is more strengthening than to acquire a smatter- 

 ing of many things. Furthermore, advanced work 

 that bears a relation to one's own life is better than 

 something that does not. Indeed, very little work 

 of the highest order is ever done without the element 

 of volition, and the will to work comes either from 

 love of a study for itself, or from recognition of its 

 relation to one's future. Such a view of education 

 inevitably leads to a generous freedom of election. 

 The duty of real teachers is to adapt the work to 

 the student, not the student to the work. Higher 

 education should thus foster divergence instead of 

 conformity, its function being not to bring youths 

 to a predetermined standard, but to help each to 

 make the most of his inborn talents. A prearranged 

 course of study is like ready-made clothing, fitting 

 nobody in particular; it is the acme of educational 

 laziness. 



In the University of Indiana the elective system Elective 

 now began to creep in slowly. At one time I sue- "^'^^ 

 ceeded in arranging that sophomores should be al- mfancy 

 lowed to choose between Biology and Latin for a 

 year's work. To the great surprise of the professor 

 of Latin his best students took advantage of the 

 opportunity, and the leader of these, Carl H. Eigen- 

 mann, found in Zoology the passion of his life. 



Eigenmann, though reared in southern Indiana, was born in 

 Germany, and possessed the enduring German qualities of in- 

 veterate persistence and endless patience with detail. In time 

 he became instructor in my department. Later he spent some 



c 237 : 



