536 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 930 



If I may change my figure of speech, the 

 rules, regulations, precedents and formu- 

 las for running a school correspond to the 

 reflex mechanism in an animal. They ad- 

 just it well to the average conditions of en- 

 vironment and govern certain subordinate 

 functions. But the animal which is purely 

 reflex stands low in the scale. And so does 

 the college that runs by rule and formula. 

 What is needed in the animal is a super- 

 posed cerebrum, which can inhibit reflexes 

 and regulate behavior in accord with a 

 greater complexity and continuity of stim- 

 uli. Speaking as a man of the street — and 

 not as a scientist nor as a theologian — what 

 the animal needs is a soul. And that is 

 just what the college needs. The soul of 

 the college shoujd be such an organization 

 of experts as can exercise safe and sane 

 judgment under varying conditions. This 

 paper will be concerned, first, with the 

 organization of such a body of experts; 

 secondly, with the methods to be used by 

 them in taking care of migrating students. 



Regarding the first topic, organization, 

 I believe that it is unsafe to leave to the 

 dean alone the decision of important mat- 

 ters relative to the individual student. 

 The dean even in the case where he de- 

 votes a large share of time to his office can 

 not know the work of the student in all de- 

 partments. He may, it is true, have the 

 record of grades, but these are not the inti- 

 mate personal data on which the individual 

 case must be settled. The grades consti- 

 tute a part of the regular reflex machinery 

 which disposes very well of the average 

 student. They are of value, but should not 

 be the sole criterion for deciding questions 

 regarding particular students. 



Another reason why the important in- 

 dividual case can not be left to the dean is 

 that he is almost always a professor, and 

 looks with the usual jealous but magnify- 

 ing eye on the importance of his own de- 



partment. The individual student must 

 be considered from aU sides. 



If the dean can not dispose properly of 

 the individual student, much less can a 

 secretary or registrar, who is usually not 

 an educational officer in the proper sense, 

 but strictly a part of the reflex machinery. 



The individual student, furthermore, 

 can not be considered properly by the fac- 

 ulty. This is not easily done in a school of 

 arts or science, and is even less feasible in 

 the average medical school, where many of 

 the professors are in medical practise and 

 give only a portion of their thought to edu- 

 cational problems. The word of a clinical 

 professor lecturing one or two hours a 

 week is of less value as regards an individ- 

 ual student than that of a paid assistant 

 who meets the student daily in the labora- 

 tory. Moreover, faculties meet infre- 

 quently, and the individual case needs 

 immediate consideration and action. 



A committee of the faculty, provided it 

 has power to act, can do the work better 

 than the faculty, but here again there are 

 objections. The faculty usually consists 

 only of professors, and a large proportion 

 of them do not come into intimate contact 

 with the students. The committee is likely 

 to partake of the same character and often 

 degenerates to one man control. 



Finally the case of the individual stu- 

 dent should not be referred piecemeal to 

 the individual department heads. Take 

 the case of a migrating student, for ex- 

 ample. If he is sent in turn to the pro- 

 fessors of chemistry, anatomy, etc., each 

 settles his part of the case without refer- 

 ence to the others. One exaggerates the 

 value of his own teaching and will give no 

 credit for work done in another laboratory. 

 Another is too lenient or does not wish to 

 be bothered. Conditions are imposed 

 without regard to general time schedule, 

 and no consideration is given to the char- 



