SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 239 



performs the experiments, and notes results, but the amount of 

 personal thought which is stimulated is sometimes infinitesimal. 

 Now, since the design of our college course is to make the thinking 

 man, it is plain that something is needed to offset these tendencies, 

 and some of our educators would find this something in original re- 

 search. That a bit of research will counteract these evils in large 

 measure is certain enough. When the student is engaged in solv- 

 ing some new problem, the whole aspect of his study is changed. 

 It is no longer tedious and dull, but interesting and full of life. A 

 new world of thought is opened, and scientific methods of thought 

 and work become engendered. Travelling a new road, the student 

 is ever on the watch for new facts and thoughts. Carelessness and 

 mechanical labor are no longer possible, for he soon discovers that 

 his success depends upon the amount of care and thought that he 

 puts into his work. In short, original research soon does away 

 with the school-boy, and makes the student in its best sense. 



But while the value of this method of study is apparent, it by no 

 means follows that such a course is best for our college student. 

 Most American instructors believe at present that the evils resulting 

 from such a course would more than counterbalance its advantages : 

 for it is plain enough that a course founded upon research will tend 

 to make specialists, and nothing else ; and this is not the design of 

 our colleges. The American college is quite naturally compared 

 with the German universities ; but the comparison is an utterly 

 false one, for the aim of the two is entirely different. The German 

 university student is studying a special course, for a special purpose, 

 and is usually looking forward to government employment. The 

 government appoints ministers, doctors, lawyers, teachers ; and 

 eighty per cent of the university graduates obtain such employment 

 after passing a rigid State examination. It is this examination and 

 government employment which serve as the inspiration of the 

 student. The German Government has decided that a high educa- 

 tion shall be the means of entrance into the upper circles of society. 

 For a German who is not born noble, there is only one way 

 of gaining an association with the upper classes, and that is by a 

 university education and government employment. With such an 

 inspiration, Germany could hardly help developing a high grade of 

 education and early specialization. Considered in the light of 

 education alone, her system has certainly been the most successful 

 ever instituted. But in this country the conditions are very differ- 

 ent, and such an educational system is both impossible and un- 

 desirable. Our government has set no premium on education, nor 

 are our professional men at all dependent upon the government for 

 success. They are dependent directly upon the people, and there- 

 fore upon a hundred unforeseen possibilities. There are other ways 

 of improving one's condition and rising in the estimation of society 

 than by becoming professional men, for many other paths of life are 

 equally respected. We have no educated aristocracy, for we believe 

 there are other good things besides learning. Our colleges have there- 

 fore a broad function to perform in meeting these conditions. They 

 desire, not to make specialists, but to train men. They do not de- 

 sire to make ministers or doctors or lawyers. This is left to pro- 

 fessional schools, which therefore compare more nearly with the 

 German university. The college course is one which we think a 

 student should have before beginning a special training, believing 

 that such preparation will result in making better professional men, 

 better business men, and, above all, better citizens. It is the gen- 

 eral training of lower schools broadened and expanded. German 

 university education tends to unfit men for any course of life outside 

 their specialties, and Germany is becoming alarmed over the in- 

 creasing class of educated men who cannot obtain government em- 

 ployment, and are fit for nothing else. The same is true of our pro- 

 fessional schools and advanced courses in higher universities ; for 

 they, too, fit men for narrow courses in life. But the college tries 

 to put men in a position where they are better fitted for any path in 

 life, from farmer to statesman. The professional school tries to 

 make the scholar ; the college, to make the man. That our plan of 

 education is not adapted to the production of the largest number of 

 gifted scholars may be very true ; but that it is best adapted to the 

 needs and demands of our system of society and government is 

 the firm belief of most American educators. 



Now, if we recognize this as a worthy aim of our colleges, 

 we shall understand why original research is not encouraged on 



the part of undergraduates. We hear a constant demand in this 

 country for a liberal education. It is for this that our students go 

 to college, for this that the course is planned. It is planned to oc- 

 cupy four full years, with little time left for outside work. Fortu- 

 nately, however, this idea has not been strong enough to oppose 

 successfully the introduction of the elective system, for this freedom 

 of choice has fought its way into all colleges. Our education has 

 been vastly improved by allowing the student the privilege of devot- 

 ing his energies toward a line of studies congenial to him. This 

 system of greater freedom is yearly widening its scope, and it is of 

 course impossible to tell where it will end ; but there is no reason 

 for thinking it likely to go beyond a broad freedom in electives. To 

 take another step, and introduce the earlier and narrower specializa- 

 tion which would result from the encouragement of original re- 

 search, would be to abandon completely our belief in the value of a 

 liberal education ; for the investigator becomes the specialist from 

 the start. His attention is withdrawn from other subjects, and, 

 with the American's hurry to do something, he is almost sure to 

 neglect completely all lines of learning except his own. We do not 

 want our colleges to develop classes of men who are good for noth- 

 ing outside of one line. For the general student, then, narrow 

 specialization is always injurious. Still further than this do our 

 colleges go, insisting that even more should the student who aims 

 at a special line of work be cautioned against taking it up too 

 quickly. The only time that he will ever get for acquiring knowl- 

 edge of other departments of knowledge is during his college 

 course ; for, as soon as he takes up his own, he will pursue it with 

 an eagerness which will hide all else. To begin to specialize early 

 seems at first sight a gain in time ; but it is in reality an irreparable 

 loss, for it is beginning to build without laying a sufficient founda- 

 tion. To make the best port of a scholar requires more than an ex- 

 haustive knowledge of one thing : it requires a broad knowledge of 

 thought. It is quite common, therefore, to find our professors 

 recommending their own students to keep outside of their special- 

 ties as long as possible. Practically, too, is it important, for our- 

 educational positions demand it. Our institutions are not yet highly 

 enough differentiated to offer work for very narrow specialists. We 

 have many colleges and broad departments. They want teachers 

 in biology, and not in entomology ; teachers of physics, and not of 

 electricity. In short, the demand in the country to-day is almost 

 everywhere for broadly educated men, and not for the narrow 

 students which are the inevitable result of early attention to original 

 research. The general training the colleges must give, all special 

 training being reserved for the professional schools and the universi- 

 ties. If our colleges fill this demand, they will continue to exert a 

 powerful influence ; but, if they cease to do so, the American 

 college will disappear, and its place will be supplied by professional 

 schools and universities. To convert our colleges into universities 

 is impossible, since our students have had no thorough training to 

 start with, which corresponds to the German gymnasium. In at- 

 tempting to avoid the old plan of rigid courses, and by electives 

 introduce more freedom for the student, our colleges have vastly 

 improved our system of education. Whether or not this idea 

 has been carried to excess is still a matter of dispute, as can be 

 seen by comparing the views of the representatives of our two lead- 

 ing colleges. Harvard and Yale. But the opinion would be almost 

 unanimous that a system which enables the student to so devote 

 himself to one subject that all others are lost sight of, belongs not 

 to the American college : it belongs to the university or the pro- 

 fessional school. At all events, our colleges at present are planned 

 to give the student a liberal education, and not a special training ;, 

 and for this purpose routine courses, and not original investigations,, 

 are adopted. 



Even with our elective systems in vogue, there are, as we have 

 seen, two equally undesirable extremes. On the one hand, routine- 

 courses tend to degenerate into mechanical work and monotony, 

 curb original thought, and generate carelessness. This is the 

 most common fault of our American colleges. On the other hand, 

 original research on the part of the young student encourages too 

 early specialization, and thus defeats the plan of a liberal education.. 

 This is not as common in this country. But neither extreme is neces- 

 sary ; for a medium course is possible, which shall in a measure 

 avoid the evils of both extremes, and give the advantages of both 



