Elective S>/sfem in PJnf/iiieci'/iH/ ('olleiies. — W'tnlsirnrlh. 287 
The president must make a study of the institution as a 
whole; formulate the results to be reached by each official of 
the school in order to carry out the general scheme; see that 
these results are obtained, be empowered to discharge, without 
recourse to others, any oflicial found to be incompetent. He 
must allow each of his associate officers full liberty to reach 
in his own way the I'esults demanded of him, rigidly abstain 
from interfering with his work and aid him whenever possible. 
]'f[. The Advanfacies of the Elective System. 
They may be briefly enumerated as follows: 
fill It lightens the labor of the instructors, i.e., removes much of the 
drudgery, makes the work far more a labor of love and enables each 
one to give as extended a course in his department as he wishes 
without interfering with another professor. 
ib) It greatly reduces the friction between faculty and students, almost 
does away with faculty meetings and renders the necessary regu- 
lations few in number. 
(c) It renders examinations almost unnecessary, grades the student by 
his daily work; removes the padding of courses, shows up ineffi- 
cient teachers and allows the professors and the institution to get 
rid of incompetent pupils with almost no friction. 
(d| It results in better and higher work in each subject, ;uk1 develops 
the best that is in each student, 
(e) It is more economical both in money and time than either the re- 
(juired or optional systems, i. e.. a smaller faculty accomplishes the 
same results. 
(f I It enables an instituiton to keep pace with the rapid development 
of the various branches of engineering without the introduction of 
new faculties and new degrees with all their attendant evils. 
(g) It serves as a safety valve for the students' pent up energies, and 
almost does away with class rebc^llions, especially those due to 
some particularly oV)n(>xious professor, or to the su.spension of some 
popular student, 
(h) It does away with the practice of hazing and most of the other dis- 
graceful customs of students in educational institutions; it renders 
the student more manly, and in a professional school allows a man 
to attend to athletics and his studies without that demf)ralizing 
sacrifice of truth so fearfully prevalent. 
U| It proclaims to the public, and with perfect truthfulness, that not 
only has the student "gone through" certain studies to obtain a 
degree l)ut each of those studies has "gone through" him; in other 
svords, that no student has been allowed to slide through some 
studies in which he was weak because there were others in which 
he was proficient, nor has lie Ixmmi grnduated simjjly because of his 
excellence in athletics. 
