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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1438 



brary, laboratory, field, or crealtive work have 

 bis progress restricted by course units'? 



Such questions are all the more pertinent 

 here to-day because American institutions have 

 answered them in a diiferenlt way from that in 

 which they have been ainswered by the older in- 

 stitutions in Europe. The American college 

 coddles the student; laces him into a strait- 

 jacket <yi forms, and spanks or rewards him 

 somewhait in proportion to his conformity to 

 this corset. Professors talk about academic 

 freedom. Perhaps it is time that we heard from 

 the student about academic freedom. 



One wholesome practice is to excuse stu- 

 dents from too eleonemtary courses and give 

 them more advanced work. But in many oases 

 there should be another outlet. Students who, 

 on admission or laiter, give evidence of high 

 capacity for achievement should, on recommen- 

 dation to the department and approval by the 

 scholarship committee, be permitted to register 

 for individual work as a substitute for required 

 courses, work to be counted for credit as in 

 the course. But ithe standard of passing should 

 be much higher than for the class work (1) to 

 prevent rush to this privilege, (2) to call for 

 high achievement on the part of a gifted stu- 

 dent, and (3) to allow for the effect of cram- 

 ming. The test should, however, be more plas- 

 tic and personal than the formal tests on course 

 content. In addition to scholarship, admission 

 to such registration should be based upon evi- 

 dence of fitness for such independent work. 

 The principle of this type of registration once 

 approved by the faculty, the administration of 

 it should be left largely to the departments, so 

 as to make ilt simple and flexible. 



Departments might find it possible to 'have 

 syllabi, bibliographies and study hints avail- 

 able as an invitation to individual work. Oc- 

 casional interviews should be granted, but not 

 for the purpose of telling or teaching. In 

 certain subjects each individual's work might 

 be so motivated and organized as to carry a 

 considerable number of students in this way 

 rather than in class, and thereby lighten the 

 burden of teaching. Departments might also 

 go so far as to recognize voluntary groups of 

 two or more students for cooperative study in 



preparation for such tests as the department 

 might set. In every case, the student would 

 have the advantage of working ait the highest 

 level of achievement, would be free from the 

 lock-step of the class room, free from the bur- 

 den of being bombarded with matters which 

 he already knows. Mathematics, history, gov- 

 ernment and psychology would be good ex- 

 amples of subjects to pursue in this manner. 

 Mathematics is peculiarly a personal affair; 

 it is a skill which the teacher can not impart. 

 In foreign language there is no reason why a 

 gifted studenit should spend two years in the 

 class room in learning to read Trench and Ger- 

 man; 'but if he is given time and realizes what 

 it is for, he can read French or Gei-man litera- 

 ture and science and live in it and use it to 

 best advantage and thereby lay a better founda- 

 tion than he could by merely taking a course. 

 Even laboratory courses might well be mastered 

 in this way. Only gifted students dan profit 

 by this privilege. Inferior, mediocre or aver- 

 age students need to be nursed and coddled 

 by the methods we now employ for all. The 

 privilege is merely an honest recognition of the 

 fact that there are some Avho can learn for 

 themselves, without tutor, lecturer or class 

 whip. 



4. Early contact with mature teachers. Re- 

 cently, a faculty committee in a nniversilty 

 brought in a report representing essentially 

 this: (1) that elementary students should be 

 taught in sections not to exceed twenty-five ; 

 (2) thait elementary students should be taught 

 by the mature men in the department; (3) that 

 the teaching schedule for these men should be 

 reduced in order that they may have itime for 

 research; and (4) that salaries should be raised. 

 One member of that committee, representing a 

 very large department, was asked to prepare 

 a budgeit for his department embodying these 

 recommendations. Nothing more has been 

 heard of the report. It simply can't be done. 



With the present influx of students, there is 

 a tendency to reserve the most inspiring men 

 for the most advanced courses and leave lower 

 courses in the hands of cheap labor. This is 

 especially demoralizing to the gifted student. 

 When a department has from two to fifty see- 



