458 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 690 



strated that this type when properly devel- 

 oped produces only engineers and scientists 

 of an inferior grade, then, and not till 

 then, will it be time to consider the con- 

 version of the institute into a purely grad- 

 uate school. To abandon at this stage the 

 educational experiment which the institute 

 is making, instead of coping with the diffi- 

 culties in its problem which have become 

 apparent, would be a betrayal of the trust 

 which its past imposes and a severe blow 

 to the educational development of this 

 country. There is as yet no indication 

 that the sources that have directly fed the 

 streams which are inundating our tech- 

 nological schools are drying up, nor is there 

 as yet any adequate experience which war- 

 rants us in diverting those streams into a 

 different channel. It is certainly desirable 

 that there be developed the new type of 

 engineering education, in which cultural 

 subjects are given as collegiate courses and 

 the professional training in a graduate 

 school; but this is not om>- field of educa- 

 tional service. Such a development is to 

 be welcomed, in part because it is a stim- 

 ulus to us to study the conditions for 

 making our own type of education more 

 effective. We must therefore not allow 

 our attack upon the problems of under- 

 graduate education to be weakened by the- 

 ories as to the tendencies of professional 

 education under univei-sity conditions, nor 

 by inconclusive comparisons between the 

 results attained in graduate schools of law 

 and medicine and those that may be ex- 

 pected in similar schools of applied science. 

 The second principle which I desire to 

 emphasize is that already indicated by my 

 preceding words, namely, that, as an inde- 

 pendent undergraduate school, the educa- 

 tional problem of the institute is neces- 

 sarily of a twofold character: we have to 

 develop a plan of education which is 

 adapted to produce not only well-trained 

 engineers, but also broad-minded, high- 



purposed men. We must aim to make the 

 work of the students at the institute and 

 the conditions of their life outside such as 

 lead to a duly proportioned development 

 in these two directions. 



It is sometimes said, however, that in 

 attempting to solve this twofold problem 

 in a four-year undergraduate course, the 

 institute is undertaking a hopeless task. 

 This contention I would meet by the state- 

 ment, that, whether or not it be hopeless 

 to give a fully adequate education upon 

 these two sides within the period of four 

 years, it is our present problem to do this 

 in as large a measure as is possible ; for to 

 further increase this minimum period of 

 study would close the doors of the institu- 

 tions of technological education to a large 

 number of young men whose financial re- 

 sources are already taxed to the utmost. 

 Moreover, the careers of institute gradu- 

 ates warrant the conclusion that the results 

 attained in the past are as a whole satis- 

 factory; and when the many possibilities 

 of further development in our educational 

 work and the conditions of student life are 

 considered, the future outlook for a fuller 

 success of the four-year course is a bright 

 one. Before conceding the necessity of an 

 extension of this period of study, we must 

 at least consider the possibility of utilizing 

 in part the intermediate summer vacations, 

 which now cover no less than one third of 

 the whole year: but to this matter I shall 

 return later. 



Specialization in a Fifth Year 

 The general principle which should de- 

 termine the character of our four-year 

 course of study— a principle fully recog- 

 nized by our faculty— is that a liberal edu- 

 cation be provided such as will develop 

 character, breadth of view, and high ideals 

 of service, and that professional education 

 be mainly confined to a thorough training 

 in the principles of the fundamental sci- 



