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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 407. 



ical parties, or public men. All these political 

 agencies are becoming secondary and subordinate 

 influences. They neither originate nor lead; they 

 sometimes regulate and set bounds, and often im- 

 pede. The real incentives and motive powers 

 which impel society forward and upward spring 

 from those bodies of well-trained, alert, and pro- 

 gressive men known as the professions. They 

 give effect to the discoveries or imaginings of 

 genius. All the large businesses and new enter- 

 prises depend for their success on the advice and 

 cooperation of the professions. 



With such an ideal as this held up be- 

 fore the student of law, of medicine, of 

 divinity, of teaching, of architecture or 

 of applied science, what standard of excel- 

 lence shall the university require of him 

 when he enters upon his professional stud- 

 ies? Three answers seem to be possible: 

 The university may require (1) the com- 

 pletion of a normal secondary school course 

 of four years, and so put admission to the 

 professional and technical schools on a 

 plane with admission to college, or (2) the 

 completion of the present college course of 

 four years, or (3) the completion of a 

 shortened college course. 



When weighing the advantages and dis- 

 advantages of these several lines of action, 

 it should be borne in mind that a uniform 

 policy on the part of all universities in 

 dealing with this question is not necessary 

 and may not be desirable. We are directly 

 concerned with the question so far as it 

 concerns the duty and the interest of Co- 

 lumbia; but the universities having differ- 

 ent social and educational needs to meet, 

 and somewhat different ideals to labor for, 

 may be wise in reaching a conclusion quite 

 different from that which most commends 

 itself to us. This consideration seems to 

 me to meet the third of President Hadley's 

 objections already referred to. Further- 

 more, the universities do not control admis- 

 sion to the practice of the professions, and 

 it is not in their power, as it is certainly 

 not their wish, to shut out from his chosen 

 profession any competent person, whatever 



his training or wherever it has been had. 

 If the standards of professional study re- 

 quired by the universities are higher than 

 the minimum fixed by law, no one will 

 attend a university for professional study 

 unless its standards appeal to him and un- 

 less he hopes to find ultimate gain by con- 

 forming to them at some expense of both 

 time and money. On the other hand, if the 

 universities make the minimum standards 

 fixed by law their own— and only by so 

 doing can they avoid discriminating 

 against some one— then they seem to me to 

 have abdicated their functions as leaders 

 in American intellectual life. The result 

 would quickly be seen, I am sure, in the 

 falling off of popular favor and support. 

 These facts appear to meet the first of 

 President Hadley's objections. His second 

 objection involves a discussion of the sig- 

 nificance of the college cou.rse, a subject 

 which I shall consider in its proper place. 

 Columbia University cannot be satisfied 

 with a requirement of only secondary 

 school graduation for admission to the pro- 

 fessional and technical schools for several 

 reasons. 



1. Such students at 17. or 18 years of 

 age (or, as should be the case, at 16 or 

 16^ years) are too immature to carry on a 

 severe course of professional study with 

 profit. 



2. When such students predominate, or 

 form a large proportion of the total num- 

 ber attending any given professional 

 school, the teaching deteriorates and the 

 instruction tends to become either super- 

 ficial or unduly long drawn out and waste- 

 ful of time. 



3. Other institutions in various parts of 

 the country afford the fullest opportunity 

 for students who are compelled to remain 

 satisfied with the shortest possible prepara- 

 tion for the practice of a profession, and 

 Columbia would not be justified in using 

 its funds merely to add to a provision 



