Still another proposal remains to be consid ered. Its followers urge that the best type of liberal education is to be found in the historic academic course, which has been the centre and strength of American college life. They concede that other bachelor's courses may give a valuable education to many, provided these courses are consistently organized. hold that it is possible to ascertain with sufficient exactness just what studies ought to be pre scribed as integral parts of these courses, and that the preliminary training given in these prescribed studies develops maturity in the young sudent and enables him to choose intel ligently his later elective studies. At the present time, in their view, it is not wise to in troduce elective studies until about the middle of the college course. These studies should be organized and related in a system, and con nected with the underlying system of prescribed studies. The principle of freedom should be introduced gradually, not suddenly, and should lead to complete freedom as soon as it is clear the student is able to use it well. A form of this view which finds a good deal of support is that elective studies should be introduced first of all in the form of extensions of subjects already studied by the student, in order that he may make his first experiment of choice in an area where he is most familiar. According to this view the second stage of elective studies should be the introduction of large general courses in leading subjects, accompanied by special courses for students of exceptional ability in special directions, and finally leading to as high a degree of specialization as the resources of the college will allow.
Modes of Instruction is still mainly conducted by recitation and lecture, the recitation finding its chief place in the earlier and the lecture in the later part of the course. For purposes of recitation the classes are di vided into sections of 25 or 30 students, and the exercise is usually based on a definitely allotted portion of some standard textbook. Much has been done to improve the character of this exercise. The correction of mistakes, the attempt to lead the student to discover the cause of his mistakes, and the endeavor to teach the entire class through the performance of each individual, are the aim of the more skill ful instructors. The professors most skilled in the art of conducting recitations, rather than those who depend wholly on lectures, leave the most abiding impression. While instruction by recitation continues with effectiveness in the latter part of the course, especially with smaller groups of students, yet instruction by lecture is the rule. The lecturer may have to face a class which enrolls as many students as the whole college contained a generation ago. He de livers his lecture, while those before him take notes, or as they listen read a printed syllabus prepared for the use of the class, and add such jottings as may seem desirable. In many lec
ture courses the recitation is employed as an effective auxiliary. The "perceptorial" mode of counsel and supervision, in vogue at Prince ton since 1905. has been valuable in meeting the difficulties of individual students, taken in small groups. Other forms of instruction find place. In all except elementary courses in science the laboratory plays a most important part, and even in lectures in introductory courses in phys ics, chemistry or biology full experimental illus tration is the rule. The library serves as a sort of laboratory for the humanistic studies. Students are encouraged to learn the use of the college library as auxiliary to the regular exer cises of the curriculum. Certain books are ap pointed as collateral reading, and the written examination at the end of the term often takes account of this outside reading. That pro longed reading, which gives such wide and assuring acquaintance with the important liter ature of any subject, is as yet unattempted in a really adequate The academic year is divided into two (sometimes three) terms. At the end of each term the student is required to pass a fairly rigorous set of written examinations. Oral ex aminations have largely disappeared. Very rarely a high record of attainment in recitations during the term entitles a student to exemption from examination. In honors the old academic college confined itself almost entirely to general honors. Honors for general emi nence still remains in most colleges. The rank list of the class at graduation either arranges the stud, in ordinal position (in which case the first honor-man still appears) or else di vides the class into a series of groups ar ranged in order of general scholarly merit. In such cases the old first honor-man is one of the select a few who constitute the highest group in the class. But special honors in particular studies, while not unknown in the past, are really a development of our time. Undoubt edly they have tend, d to increase the interest of abler students in their favorite studies. A student trying for special honors is, of course, specializing in some sense, though he is not ordinarily pursuing original research. He is rather enlarging and deepening his acquaint ance with some one important subject,•such as history or mathematics.
Student At 18 the typical student of the older eastern college has completed a f our year course in some secondary school. He finds near at hand either the college entrance board's examination or a local entrance ex amination conducted by a representative of this intended college. The days and exact hours of examination and the examination papers are the same as for the examination held at the college. His answers are sent on to be marked and estimated. In a week or two he receives notice of his admission to the freshman class.