May 27, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



811 



disadvantage to its students, putting them 

 in the position of eternally apologizing for 

 the fact that they have no degree. The 

 essential matter in regard to degrees, which 

 should always be kept in mind, is that the 

 student shoidd not go out of his way to get 

 a degree. It is a crime in education to 

 force a student to do something that is not 

 the best thing for him, merely to conform to 

 some system. The individual is a thousand 

 times more important than the system. Our 

 work as teachers is really the work of train- 

 ing individuals, not to make them conform 

 to a system unless the system helps on their 

 work. In all of our treatment of degrees 

 we should keep that principle in mind — 

 that the student ought not to go out of his 

 best way. How that best way is to be 

 judged is another question, but there is 

 always one way better than other ways for 

 each particular man. 



I believe also that the degree should not 

 be made too much of, and that we should 

 not regard it as something particularly vital. 

 It is simply a handy term for the registra- 

 tion of alumni. I do- not believe in making 

 the degree a class label. One reason for 

 separating the degree of A.B. from other 

 bachelors' degrees has been the supposed 

 superiority of the men of classical training. 

 If the classical graduate is really superior, 

 the fact will show. If he is not superior 

 except in name, the assumption that he is 

 so would tend to make him ridiculous. We 

 know as a matter of fact that there is no 

 superiority of classical training over other 

 forms of training for all classes of men. 

 "We know that there is no kind of training 

 better for all men than every other form. 



I believe very strongly that it is best as a 

 matter of policy for an institution to give 

 the same bachelor's degree for all kinds 

 of academic work that may be approved, 

 whether it be scientific, or classical, or liter- 

 ary, or historical, or whatever it may be. 

 Let the four years' course be marked by the 



degree of bachelor of arts— of arts because 

 that term is one of long standing, long used 

 in connection with college graduation. Its 

 historic meaning is long since lost, and does 

 not concern us vitally. Of course, the 

 classical course of to-day is not the course 

 of a hundred years ago. There is no his- 

 torical value to the A.B. There are good 

 reasons why the graduates of one institu- 

 tion should bear the same title. If one 

 wishes to be more explicit, it is easy to 

 specify on the diploma which has been the 

 major subject. 



As we know, the degree of B.S. has been 

 and is grossly abused. It is given for 

 short courses on insufficient preparation. 

 It usually means bachelor of surfaces in- 

 stead of bachelor of science, indicating 

 that the bearer of it has none but super- 

 ficial knowledge. 



The degTce of A.M. is a harmless one 

 which means nothing in this country. In 

 some institutions it costs five dollars, in 

 some others two years of study. In some 

 universities it is a step toward the degree 

 of doctor of philosophy, and in other places 

 it is a name for culture work of some kind 

 or for training as a high-school teacher. 

 We had a discussion in the Association of 

 American Universities a while ago, spend- 

 ing several hours on the meaning of the 

 master's degree. The discussion seemed 

 to show very clearly that the degree had no 

 uniform significance. On the average it 

 was simply a convenient way to bring grad- 

 uate students from other institutions into 

 the roll of alumni of an institution in which 

 they had done advanced work. 



The degree which has most significance 

 is that of Ph.D., one which we have brought 

 from Germany. This is essentially a pro- 

 fessional degree, the degree of the profes- 

 sional scholar, the professional investigator, 

 as distinguished from the men who are not 

 making their scholarship a profession. 

 Professional degrees are the only ones with 



