618 



SCIENCE. 



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



the colleges or by the time devoted to them, 

 but by the post-gradiiate i'listruction in the 

 universities and by the requirements de- 

 manded for the degree of doctor of phi- 

 losophy. 



These being the undisputed facts, it 

 would appear to be wise, and possible, to 

 treat the length of the college course and 

 the requirements, both in time and in ac- 

 complishment, for the degree of bachelor of 

 arts from the standpoint of present-day 

 needs and the largest social service. 



In my opinion it is already too late to 

 meet the situation by shortening the col- 

 lege course for all students to three years, 

 although such action would be a decided 

 step forward so far as the interests of in- 

 tending professional and technical students 

 are concerned. "\ATien President Eliot first 

 proposed a three years ' course for Harvard 

 College, the suggestion was, I think, a wise 

 one. But in the interval conditions have 

 changed again. If we at Columbia should 

 be willing to go no farther than to reduce 

 the length of the college course from four 

 years to thi-ee, we should (1) find it im- 

 practicable both on financial and on educa- 

 tional grounds to require that course as 

 prerequisite for admission to the Schools 

 of Applied Science, and, possibly, to the 

 School of Medicine, and (2) we should be 

 unable to resist the pressure for further 

 reconstruction and rearrangement that 

 would be upon us before our work was com- 

 pleted and in operation. My own belief is 

 that Coliunbia University will perform the 

 greatest public ser-sdce if it establishes two 

 courses in Columbia College, one of two 

 years and one of four years— the former 

 to be included in the latter— and if it re- 

 quires the satisfactory completion of the 

 shorter course, or its equivalent elsewhere, 

 for admission to the professional and tech- 

 nical schools of the university. By taking 

 this step we should retain the college with 

 its two years of liberal studies as an in- 



tegral element in our system, shorten by 

 two y^ars the cdmfcmed periods of' second- 

 ary school, college, and professional school 

 instruction, and yet enforce a standard 

 of admission to our professional schools 

 which, both in quantity and in quality, is 

 on a plane as high as the Columbia degree 

 of bachelor of arts of 1860, which was rec- 

 ognized as conforming to a very useful 

 standard of excellence. At the same time 

 we should retain the four years' course with 

 all its manifest advantages and opportuni- 

 ties for those who look forAvard to a schol- 

 arly career, and for as many of those who 

 intend to enter upon some active business 

 after graduation as can be indviced to fol- 

 low it. 



Under such a plan we should have in 

 Coliunbia College four different classes of 

 students: (1) those who were taking the 

 shorter course of two j^ears in preparation 

 for a technical and professional course, and 

 who would therefore look forward to a 

 total imiversity residence of five or six 

 years; (2) those who were taking the 

 shorter course of two years, but without 

 anj' thought of subsequent professional or 

 technical study; (3) those who felt able to 

 give the time necessary to take the longer 

 course of four years before entering a pro- 

 fessional or technical school; and (4) those 

 who, as now, take the four years' college 

 course without any intention of technical 

 or professional stud}'. The second class of 

 students woiild be a new and highlj^ desira- 

 ble class, and would be, for the most part, 

 made up of earnest young men seeking a 

 wider and more thorough scholarly train- 

 ing than the secondary school can offer, but 

 unable to devote four years to that end. 

 The third class of students would be able, 

 bj' a proper selection of studies in the later 

 years of their college course, either to enter 

 a professional school with advanced stand- 

 ing or to anticipate some of the preliminary 

 professional studies and to devote the time 



