SC I EN CE -Supplement. 



FKIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1885. 



ELECTIVE STUDIES AT HARVARD.' 



A NEW departure has been made in Harvard 

 college during the past year, in that, for the first 

 time in its history, freshmen have been allowed 

 to choose a majority of their studies. Under the 

 new mles but seven-sixteenths of the work of the 

 freshman year will be prescribed : the rest of the 

 coUege course, excepting a few exercises in English 

 composition, will be elective. 



Let us examitie on what facts the Harvard 

 faculty buUd their confidence ia the elective 

 system ; in what sense it can be caUed a system ; 

 whether, furthermore, its introduction, while 

 making iostruction more agreeable, does not tend 

 to lower its standard ; and, last, whether its 

 tendency is to foster character, and to make 

 vigorous and law-revering men. 



A preliminary objection is that the so-called 

 system is reaUy no system at all, but a mere 

 cutting of straps. This is a misconception. The 

 student under it merely chooses the specific topic 

 of his study : what the amount of it shall be, and 

 what its grade of excellence, are decided for him. 

 After completing his freshman year, the Harvard 

 student must pass successfully four elective courses 

 in each of the following three years ; and in each 

 course or single line of study 50 per cent of a 

 maximum mark are required each year for a pass. 

 After his first year, then, the Harvard B.A. must 

 have prosecuted twelve courses of self-selected 

 studies, and mastered them at least half perfectly. 



The essence, then, of the elective system, is fixed 

 quantity and quahty of study, but variable topic. 

 Every important New England coUege admits it, 

 to a certain extent, in both senior and junior years, 

 while some allow it in the sophomore. In Har- 

 vard its adoption has been very gradual. In 1825 

 options were first allowed in modem languages. 

 Years of experiment followed, with the result that 

 the old method was step by step abandoned. 

 The time of transition has been one of great pros- 

 perity. During the past fifteen years the gifts 

 to the university have averaged $250,000 a year, 

 and the number of students has steadily increased ; 

 the average attendance of undergraduates during 

 the five-year period 1861 to 1865 amounting to 



1 Abstract of Professor Palmer's article on Elective 

 studies at Harvard university, Andover review. 



only 423, while that during 1881 to 1885 reached a 

 total of 873. 



Harvard, then, has become prosperous by taking 

 the lead in a great educational movement, the 

 necessity for which lay in the fact that of late 

 years the field of knowledge has so greatly widened. 

 A place on the college curriculum has had to be 

 found for modem languages, political economy, 

 and science in its various departments. To avoid 

 the danger of superficiality, — which is opposed to 

 thorough-going discipline and the acquirement of 

 sound mental habits of thought, — a choice was 

 necessary between so many different subjects. In 

 making this, too, personal aptitudes had to be 

 considered, and thus a new principle was intro- 

 duced ; viz. , that of valuing studies less according 

 to their subject-matter than according to then- 

 fitness for the mind of the student. The will came 

 to be treated as of primary importance. The 

 student is told at Harvard, ' Study what you will, 

 but you must will to study something.' The boy 

 is thus taught how to choose during the formative 

 period of his life, that is, between the ages of 

 eighteen and twenty-two. 



A manlier type of character is actually observed 

 as the elective principle extends. The students 

 show an enthusiasm for their work that was 

 lacking formerly. Their ideal of a ' gentleman ' is 

 now higher than it was ; and hazing, window- 

 smashing, and distui'bing a lecture-room, are now 

 things of the past. That a decent scholarship has 

 now become reputable, may be seen from the fact 

 that in the last senior year 91 out of 191 men 

 received 'honorable mention;' i.e., took a high 

 rank in three or more courses of a single depart- 

 ment. The following table, which gives the 

 average percentage of marks attained at examina- 

 tions during the past ten years shows that the 

 standard of good scholarship has been steadily 

 rising. 















^ 



^ 





! 



i 



Year. 



s 



i- 



1-- 



g 



j> 



2 



2 



i 







^ 



^ 





^ 



^ 



s 



00 



^ 



s 



Freshman 



59 



55 



5 



56 



62 



62 



65 



67 



64 



63 



Sophomore 



5 



64 



63 



65 



67 



68 



70 



69 



69 



68 





67 

 67 



65 

 70 



66 

 70 



67 

 73 



70 

 76 



68 

 73 



72 

 77 



75 

 75 



72 

 79 



7*? 



Senior 



81 







Observe that the marks become higher on 

 approaching the senior years, where the elective 

 principle most prevails, and that wlule, in 18T4, 

 one-half of the freshmen who were doomed to 



