Report on a Course of Liberal Education. 29!) 



views of the faculty on the subject, we wouJd respectfuliy 

 submit the following considerations. 



We are decidedly of the opinion, that our present plan of 

 education admits of improvement. We are aware that the 

 system is imperfect: and we cherish the hope, that some of 

 its defects may ere long be remedied. V/e believe that 

 changes may, from time to time be made with advantage, to 

 meet the varying demands of the community, to accommo- 

 date the course of instruction to the rapid advance of the 

 country, in population, refinement, and opulence. We have 

 no doubt that important improvements may be suggested, by 

 attentive observation of the literary institutions m Europe ; 

 and by the earnest spirit of inquiry which is now so preva- 

 lent, on the subject of education. 



The guardians of the college appear to have ever acted 

 upon the principle, that it ought not to be stationary, but 

 continually advancing. Some alteration has accordingly 

 been proposed, almost every year, from its first establish- 

 ment. It is with no small surprise, therefore, we occasion- 

 ally hear the suggestion, that our system is unalterable ; that 

 colleges were originally planned, in the days of monkish ig- 

 norance ; and that, " by being immovably moored to the 

 same station, they serve only to measure the rapid current 

 of improvement which is passing by them." 



How opposite to all this, is the real state of facts, in this 

 and the other seminaries in the United States. A^othing is 

 more common, than to hear those who revisit the college, af- 

 ter a few years absence, express their surprise at the changes 

 which have been made since they were graduated. Not only 

 the course of studies, and the modes of instruction, have been 

 greatly varied ; but whole sciences have, for the first time, 

 been introduced ; chemistry, mineralogy, geology, political 

 economy, &,c. By raising the qualifications for admission, 

 the standard of attainment has been elevated. Alterations 

 so extensive and frequent, satisfactorily prove, that if those 

 who are intrusted with the superintendence of the institution, 

 still firmly adhere to some of its original features, it is from a 

 higher principle, than a blind opposition to salutary reform. 

 Improvements, we trust, will continue to be made, as rapidly 

 as they can be, without hazarding the loss of what has been 

 already attained. 



But perhaps the time has come, when we ought to pause, 

 and inquire, whether it will be sufiicient to make gradual 



