726 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 802 



inadequate and misleading marking sys- 

 tem, and offici-ally stops there. 



Furthermore, this over-emphasis of its 

 statutory plane is as harmful to the in- 

 structor as to the student. The freshman 

 or his parent takes up an 800-page cata- 

 log-ue and finds therein the names of hun- 

 dreds of instructors and courses which all 

 look alike to him ; for any course under any 

 instructor stands officially for one point 

 towards a 60 per cent, diploma. Officially 

 the college does not recognize, nor in any 

 way provide the means for recognizing, 

 unusual power or successful work by any 

 instructor. The college is like a great 

 library without a catalogue. There is no 

 official guide to the personalities and 

 powers of the various instructors, and no 

 means of determining these or their educa- 

 tional values upon individuals. There is 

 merely student tradition that Professor X 

 is great, Professor Y dull as blazes and 

 Professor Z an easy mark. Officially and 

 in its catalogue and diploma, or in any 

 other way in which the public can judge, 

 the college is absolutely institutional and 

 does not regard the personality of student 

 or instructor. 



There is in business what is known as 

 the standardizing of efficiency, which means 

 the ascertaining and fixing of a constantly 

 improving high standard of efficiency and 

 the bringing up of all parts of the business 

 thereto. It is thus a progressive move- 

 ment. But it is administrative in its 

 nature. This administrative nature does 

 not vary, although its applications may be 

 as wide as various kinds of businesses and 

 industries. The men who specialize in this 

 work often style themselves industrial engi- 

 neers. 



It is at this point that the Higher Educa- 

 tion Association believes that it can assist 

 the colleges by bringing in the students and 

 alumni. It believes that the colleges need 



standardizing of efficiency and that this 

 must come in large part through radical 

 changes in the college administration. The 

 present so-called administrative system is 

 about as inadequate as it could well be, as 

 shown by the pass to which, according to 

 recent inaugurals, it has brought so-called 

 college education. The general lines along 

 which the Higher Education Association 

 conceives that there should and can be 

 standardizing of college efficiency, and in 

 which it can help the individual student 

 and instructor, and put more official value 

 on personal worth and growth and less on 

 mai'ks and diploma values, is indicated by 

 the following extracts from its charter: 



The purposes for which said corporation is to 

 be formed are as follows: 



(a) To improve higher education throughout 

 the United States, and in particular the internal 

 and external conditions of the American college, 

 by furnishing an agency and funds whereby a 

 careful study can be made and improvements can 

 be brought about in the institutions of higher 

 learning, in the following ways, among others: 



(1) In the financial department: a fuller and 

 clearer treasurer's annual account; an improved 

 and more complete system of bookkeeping; and 

 through the development of an internal cost 

 accounting system — in addition to the present 

 method of merely accounting for the cash pro- 

 ceeds of trust and other funds — a more econom- 

 ical and intelligent administering of the resources, 

 funds and activities of the colleges. 



(2) In the department of instruction: the im- 

 provement of the pedagogical training of those 

 proposing to teach in colleges; the conservation 

 of the health and other interests of the instruc- 

 tional forces; the increase of their compensation; 

 the provision of pensions; the safe-guarding and 

 fostering of the interests of tutors, preceptors, 

 assistants and other grades of junior or associate 

 instructors; and the improvement of the admin- 

 istrative and other conditions affecting the teach- 

 ing forces, collectively or individually. 



(3) In the department of the student life: the 

 betterment of the college community life and of 

 the college home life, whether in the fraternity 

 home, the college dormitory or the local boarding 

 house; the restoration, so far as possible, of the 

 individual training of the students, mentally, 



