October 25, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



539 



error of their ways and settle down to 

 business. Sometimes discouragement in 

 one environment is followed by a better 

 spirit under new conditions. The men- 

 tally deficient, the ill prepared, the con- 

 genitally slothful, the habitually dissi- 

 pated, must of course be dropped. Our 

 primary idea is to keep the student long 

 enough under the close supervision of the 

 paid instructors to know whether these 

 qualities were the cause of the original 

 failure. 



The third class of migrating students 

 includes those who come from poorer col- 

 leges. Mr. Flexner has discussed these in 

 some detail. He shows how a student who 

 originally could not enter a college may 

 eventually come in with advanced standing 

 through attendance in one or more infe- 

 rior institutions. The student thus evades 

 the rules of entrance of the first school. 

 This seems deplorable and is certainly 

 unfair to the other students who were ob- 

 liged to come up to the standard of prepa- 

 ration before entering their freshman year. 

 And for the particular condition that Mr. 

 Flexner discusses, there is only one proper 

 procedure, and that is to enforce the same 

 rules of preliminary education on students 

 who enter with advanced standing as on 

 those who enter the freshman year. I shall 

 say nothing further on this point. 



On the other hand the assumption that 

 a student from an inferior school is him- 

 self necessarily inferior is absolutely 

 wrong. In fact, my experience is that 

 such a student is generally a very good 

 man who desires to better his condition. 

 And in contrast to the heart failure with 

 which I meet the incoming migrant from 

 Michigan, might be mentioned the wel- 

 come accorded the students from several 

 nameless institutions. 



Now, how should such a student, as an 

 individual, be dealt with in justice to him- 



self, to the college and to the public? As 

 to the public, it is plain that the student 

 should not be graduated till he is com- 

 petent. As to the college, it is evidently 

 bad policy (to put it narrowly) to gradu- 

 ate him before he is safe. As to the stu- 

 dent, he has put in his time in the inferior 

 school and has presumably gathered some- 

 thing. To refuse all subject credit and 

 make him repeat all the previous work 

 arouses revolt, and in my opinion is unjust. 

 To refuse or diminish time credit beyond 

 what is needed to know the student and 

 his capabilities is also wrong. Time is not 

 money, gentlemen. Time is life, and not to 

 be handled carelessly; not to be required 

 of the student as from inexhaustible store, 

 but rather as that which not enriches us 

 but makes him poor indeed. 



I shall be obliged to discuss this class of 

 students, as previous ones, from the stand- 

 point of my own experience. The student 

 is brought before the council; his creden- 

 tials and grades are presented; he is ques- 

 tioned as to the nature of his previous 

 work; and the decision, which is always a 

 tentative one, is based not upon fixed rules, 

 but upon careful consideration of that 

 ease. 



The principle of contingent credit is fre- 

 quently applied. For example, credit in 

 dissection, if he passes in topographic 

 anatomy. This procedure is safe, and it is 

 sound pedagogically. 



The principle of additional required 

 laboratory work is applied, particularly 

 by demanding attendance in summer 

 school or on short special courses. 



The principle of examination is applied, 

 but not universally. For example, I fre- 

 quently credit a student in freshman 

 physiology if he passes on the sophomore 

 work, although the topics considered in 

 the two courses are different. I think I 

 can discover whether he can think physio- 



