646 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 591. 



Commissioner Draper and President Butler be- 

 came his coadjutors. 



The so-called ' western ' is really a development 

 from the German plan. It, in some form, logic- 

 ally accompanied a state public school system 

 crowned by a state university. It has been 

 adopted also by private universities so that it 

 covers the entire territory from the Ohio to the 

 Pacific, and overflows into southern and eastern 

 states. At present there are twelve state or state 

 university inspectors in as many great western 

 states — supplemented by visitors from great 

 private institutions. In the north central asso- 

 ciation of colleges and secondary schools, there 

 has been for six years a commission on secondary 

 schools and college entrance requirements, at the 

 heart of which is a board of high school inspectors. 

 Uniform standards and entrance blanks have been 

 prepared. But now a list of first-class schools 

 meeting the standards of the commission is be- 

 coming an accredited list throughout the entire 

 northwest. 



The accrediting system has raised the standard 

 of the work done. It has linked the secondary 

 school into one system with the college. It 

 has given an increase of students entering col- 

 lege, and with better average preparation. At 

 the university of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1901, 

 of those entering by examinations 49 per cent, 

 were conditioned as against only 29 per cent, of 

 certified students. An investigation by Principal 

 Eamsay showed that the certificated students ex- 

 celled in mental ability five to one. In the gen- 

 eral performance of college duties they excelled 

 three to one. Professor Whitney, of Michigan, 

 iovmd that the average standing of the certified 

 student was more than 1.5 per cent, higher than 

 for the examined student. 



Professor T. Gregory Foster in the report of the 

 Alfred Mosley commission rejoices that it is a 

 fundamental principle in American universities 

 that the man who is fit to teach is also to be 

 trusted to examine his own students. He says 

 the accrediting system of the middle west is a 

 most significant plan and one rapidly spreading 

 into the east. 



In the states where it has been adopted the 

 whole educational system has been unified and 

 strengthened. The barriers between various 

 grades of teachers are being removed. The teach- 

 ing of all classes of teachers is thereby made more 

 direct, more stimulating and attractive to stu- 

 dents. The accrediting system as versus the older 

 leaves the teacher and the taught free and thereby 

 stimulates to better training. 



Profassor Foster quotes President Harper as 

 opposed to the accrediting system when he left 

 Yale, but now as a firm believer in it as a result 

 of his experience. The professor concludes, ' It 

 is perhaps one of the most noteworthy contribu- 

 tions of America to educational progress.' 



What we do we must do quickly. A national 

 system (meaning thereby governmental coordina- 

 tion and possible inspection in harmony with the 

 voluntary cooperation in many western states, 

 concatenating secondary schools, colleges and uni- 

 versities) will give modern interstate educational 

 privileges, long needed to keep up with interstate 

 commerce and life, and heightening national ideals 

 and power. 



That there can be local coordination of 

 the examination, certificate and accredited 

 systems for admission to college is clear, 

 because it is already accomplished in fact. 

 It is true in many institutions.- We have 

 an excellent illustration in the report for 

 1904^5 of President Schurman of Cornell. 

 He says: 



In the year 1904^95 the number of matriculants 

 presenting certificates in satisfaction of the en- 

 trance requirements was 317, and the number of 

 schools they represented was 154. It is some- 

 times alleged that the scholarship of students ad- 

 mitted on certificate is lower than that of students 

 who are required to pass examinations. But the 

 experience of Cornell University does not support 

 this contention. And consequently the faculty 

 sees no reason for disturbing an arrangement 

 which, as Dean Crane points out, ' is convenient 

 both for the schools and the university.' Never- 

 theless, Cornell has from the first cooperated with 

 the College Entrance Examination Board and 

 many of its matriculants enter by the way of the 

 board's examinations. Thus of 1,817 taking the 

 board's examinations in 1904 not less than 251 

 announced their intention to enter Cornell Uni- 

 versity. A third avenue to the university is the 

 regents' diploma for New York state students; 

 and with this credential 238 matriculated in 

 1904-05. There remains the method of entrance 

 by examinations at the university, which are now 

 given only in September, and of this method 27 

 availed themselves in 1904-05. The remaining 

 members of the freshman class were admitted on 

 credentials from other universities and colleges, 

 or on medical students' certificates.^ 



' Cornell University, President's Report, 1904- 

 05, pp. 36-37. 



