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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 665 



library and appliances, and lastly, the 

 nature and adjustments of its courses of 

 study and the fitness of the university's 

 methods to the actual needs of the actual 

 people which it serves. In these regards, 

 considered as a whole, the University of 

 Sydney must take a very high rank. In 

 America it would take its position in the 

 first rank or group of American universi- 

 ties. In organization, methods and work, 

 it would stand nearest to the University 

 of Pennsylvania, and its problems are 

 much the same as those of that' institution. 

 The faculty, although smaller than in 

 American institutions of like grade, is of 

 a quality equal to that of the best institu- 

 tions in any country, and in this consists 

 the main excellence of a university any- 

 where. 



If the University of Sydney were in 

 America, it would open its doors more 

 widely for the admission of students. It 

 would not lower its entrance standards, 

 but it would allow larger freedom in choice 

 of subjects for admission, laying less spe- 

 cial stress on Latin, or even on languages, 

 if the student were well prepared in other 

 subjects requiring an equivalent amount of 

 work. It would lay no official stress on 

 any particular subject, but would let each 

 stand on its merits as determined by the 

 judgment of the masters of its preparatory 

 schools. The university would aid the 

 secondary schools and widen its usefulness 

 if it would examine the schools rather than 

 the students at the time of matriculation. 

 In other words, it would find out from 

 friendly conference and careful inspection 

 which of the secondary schools of Australia 

 really and thoroughly met its require- 

 ments. It would then receive the pupils 

 of these schools without further question. 



The university should make it possible 

 for the energetic and competent student 

 to pay his way by work in vacation or 



otherwise, without outside help, through 

 his university course. This would involve 

 a material reduction in fees, and the dif- 

 ference should be made good by the state, 

 in view of the great advantage which 

 would accrue to it by the extension of the 

 public school system to its crowning ele- 

 ment, the university. In a frontier 

 country, the intelligence and power of the 

 new generation arises from the cabins of 

 the pioneers rather than from the homes 

 of those already well-to-do. 



It is the experience of America that free 

 scholarship won in competition by the very 

 poor or the very bright does not meet the 

 need of the state. It is morally better that 

 all, rich and poor, should be treated alike. 

 Moreover, the element of competition for 

 prizes and favors is opposed to sound 

 scholarship and to the pursuit of learning 

 for its own sake. 



In the course of study, some modification 

 toward the group system or the elective 

 system will be found to intensify the in- 

 terest of students in their work. Inter- 

 ested students make good teachers. The 

 results of placing all subjects and all chairs 

 on an academic equality, putting aside set 

 courses, and placing each student's course 

 under the direction of his major professor, 

 have been found excellent in America. It 

 has led to a new birth of educational in- 

 terest wherever it has been tried. If each 

 professor has the educational direction of 

 his own students, there is no occasion for 

 the discussion of the relative values of 

 students and studies, as between science, 

 mathematics, history and the classics. 

 Each student can select his own master 

 among the university professors and each 

 professor can carry out his own ideas of 

 education. After all, it is the man who 

 counts and not the subject. There is no 

 value in subjects prescribed for mental 

 broadening if these are taken unwillingly. 



