854 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. Xo. 574. 



Such a general plan as this (the details 

 of which, needless to say, would differ with 

 each college) could not fail, it seems to me, 

 to increase the educational efficiency of a 

 college to an extraordinary degree, by co- 

 ordinating the views of those without and 

 those within the daily routine of teaching; 

 by establishing a clear understanding, in 

 each body, of the other's problems; by re- 

 lieving the executive of a substantial por- 

 tion of his crushing load, through increas- 

 ing the legislative and administrative re- 

 sponsibility of the faculty; and, not least, 

 by making that faculty — without adding 

 to its legal powers — a body coordinate with, 

 instead of subordinate to, the board of 

 trustees. Unless American college teachers 

 can be assured by some such change as this 

 that they are no longer to be looked upon 

 as mere employees paid to do the bidding 

 of men who, however courteous or however 

 eminent, have not the faculty's professional 

 knowledge of the complicated problems of 

 education, our universities will suffer in- 

 creasingly from a dearth of strong men and 

 •teaching will remain outside the pale of 

 the really learned professions. As I said 

 in the beginning, the problem is not one of 

 wages; for no university can ever become 

 rich enough to buy the independence of 

 any man who' is really worth the pur- 

 chasing. 



This plan of cooperation would not, how- 

 ever, except to a limited degree, bring the 

 trustees as men into close contact with the 

 faculty as men. And the plan which I 

 offer towards that second aim is put for- 

 ward with much greater diffidence. The 

 scheme of a joint standing committee 

 would be productive, I feel certain, of 

 most happy results; but of my minor 

 proposition I am not so sure. This second 

 plan is to make every member of the board 

 of trustees an administrative officer in that 

 branch of the college work (so far as pos- 



sible) which is most congenial to him, giv- 

 ing him no special individual powers over 

 his assigned department, but increasing his 

 responsibilities by making him— together 

 with one or more of his colleagues— the 

 direct and responsible channel of informa- 

 tion between that department and the whole 

 board of trustees. It is already customary 

 in most colleges to create visiting commit- 

 tees with the duty of presenting annual 

 reports; my suggestion would make sub- 

 stance out of what is now little more than 

 shadow, by having it formally understood 

 that in all matters relating to his depart- 

 ment the trustee would be looked to for 

 reliable information and responsible ad- 

 vice. 



Difficulties, of course, stand thick in the 

 way of such a project. Among them are 

 the unwillingness of already busy trustees 

 to accept further responsibilities, the dan- 

 ger of personal friction between the trustee 

 and the department head, and the natural 

 fear on the part of the teacher that 'ad- 

 ministration' might spell itself to the trus- 

 tee as mere officiousness. It seems to me, 

 however, that a short acquaintance with 

 the minutiae of a college department would 

 show the trustee that the professor's as 

 well as his own time is far too valuable to 

 be given to details of administration, and 

 that college funds could in no way be made 

 more productive than by giving the heads 

 of departments such clerks and underlings 

 as would release them from much killing 

 drudgery. There is no greater extrava- 

 gance than to permit an expensively 

 trained man to do ten-doUar-a-week work. 

 And that same short acquaintance would, 

 I believe, so interest the trustee and so in- 

 crease his respect for what is being done 

 and what is still to do, that officiousness or 

 meddling would become impossible. 



These two plans, if found practicable 

 and if developed in a spirit of enthusiasm, 



