AMERICAN COLLECES.—The history of American colleges may be divided into three periods—the colonial college, the old American college, and the new Amer ican college. The colonial college ended with the American Revolution; the new American college begins about the year 1870 and is still in process of evolution.
Before the Revolutionary War there had been a continuous development of higher education in the colonies for 150 years. The point of beginning was the institutional life already familiar in the home beyond the seas. Harvard College, established by a bequest from John Har vard in 1638, was a combination of an English public school and Emmanuel Col lege. It was founded as the "schoole and colledge at Newton." Yale in 1701 was founded as a "collegiate schoole," and Dartmouth grew out of Dr. Wheelock's School for the Indians. Altogether 11 institutions of higher learning were founded before the Revolution. These were all very poor. Yale's annual budg et after 25 years of labor was 315 pounds, no part of which sum came from endowment. After a century and a half of history Harvard's total funds were less than 17,000 pounds. William and Mary was the richest of our early col leges. Its main building was a hand some brick edifice, 136 feet in length, whose architect was Sir Christopher Wren.
The avowed purpose of these earliest colleges was the training of leaders for the Christian ministry. One-half the graduates of Harvard for the first 100 years entered the ministry. After the Revolutionary War the field of their edu cational service altered materially. Their task was to train leaders, not for the church alone, but for a new state, for a commercial life beginning to express it self in new callings, for a period of pio neer development sweeping across the continent. The old colleges were strengthened and a number of new ones founded. The States began to assume a direct responsibility in this work. The University of North Carolina was char tered in 1795, Vermont in 1800, Georgia in 1801, and South Carolina in 1805. Still progress was slow. Dexter esti mates that in 1800 all existing colleges in the country had less than 2,000 stu dents, hardly more than 100 professors, and $1,000,000 worth of property.
During the period now under discus sion all American colleges developed along similar lines. The course of study was rigidly prescribed, based on Latin and Greek as fundamentals, to which were added English literature and rhet oric, mathematics, logic and philosophy, with a little history. After four years of work the degree of A. B. was given. Between 1800 and 1870 8 new subjects were introduced into the admission re quirements, viz., English grammar, Eng lish composition, algebra, geometry, geog raphy, ancient history, United States his tory, and physical geography.
Within the last 50 years the American college has developed greatly along many lines. Some problems it has solved, many are still in process of solution. Its pres ent status may be discussed under sep arate heads: 1. Material Resources: It is not easy to fix a definite standard of wealth as an essential condition of college organ ization. The Association of American Colleges has published a suggestive bul letin on "The Efficient College." The conclusion is that "an efficient college of 400 students should have a faculty of 40 teachers, total assets of about $3,000,000 and an annual income of about $125,000." At present this standard is ideal. A few of our best colleges reach it, but they have usually more than 400 students. The North Central College Association requires an endowment of $200,000 and this has been generally accepted by standardizing agencies as a minimum. But the enforcement of even this mod erate provision would forfeit the char ters of a large proportion of the institu tions calling themselves colleges. But it should be said that these feeble institu tions with little or no endowment or source of income other than student fees are not examples of the modern Amer ican college. They are left-over exam ples of the old-fashioned or even of the colonial college. No modern college can escape the financial burden involved in providing scientific laboratories, and a well-filled library carefully administered.