initiated by institutions of high rank, capable already
of maintaining a good standard of scholarship. None
138 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
should be considered whicli are not able or willing to
reach the agreed grade.
The essential principles of the suggested federation,
it seems to me, must be something like these : —
1. There should be a general unity in the amount
and kind of education indicated by a given bacca-
laureate degree.
That unity does not now exist. Degrees in some
places are dreadfully cheap. Many of them are mere
fiat parchments. In some States there is to-day as
much "wild catting" in colleges as sixty years ago
there was in banking. A national bank-note is what it
is, only when and because it is worth its face in gold,
from Maine to California. And every college degree
should everywhere be the equivalent of its face value
in intellectual coin of the realm. Should the federa-
tion be formed, the degrees of a non-federate college
would at once be known as mere educational " shin-
plasters.''
2. There should be a general unity in the require-
ments for admission to candidacy for a given degree.
If the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Williams
means the same thing essentially as a like degree in
the University of Minnesota, then the preparatory
course for that degree in a Minnesota high-school
should with equal ease admit to Williams.
3. At the same time, there should be considerable
flexibility in these requirements. There should be a
wide extension of the system of equivalents.
The old idea of one inelastic required college
course, is obsolete. In glancing at the Williams
ADDRESS. 139
catalogue, recently, I was struck by its modern look.
There are electives. It actually requires some intelli-
gence in the student to make up his line of work. In
my student day the entire college course was tied up
in a bundle, and all we had to do was to shut our
eyes and swallow it whole, like a dose of calomel.
But flexibility in the curriculum means flexibility
in the requirements for admission. It means that
entrance subjects may be made up of a variety of
groups.
4. Then, secondary school curricula should be so
arranged that every course possible for a student to
take should correspond with some one of these en-
trance groups. To be sure, it is not to be sup-
posed that every college will offer all the courses of
study implied by all of these groups. But if group
F, for example, does not lead to a possible course at
Williams, it may at Amherst, or Cornell. And so
my main contention will be realized : every course in
every secondary school will lead to some course in
some college.
5. The school diploma, indicating the particular
group of studies covered, should then be the voucher
of admission to the corresponding college course in
the colleore which offers that course.
Those colleges that prefer to require examinations
would not be debarred from doing so. But my im-
pression is that most colleges would sooner or later
prefer the other plan, were they once assured that
the school diploma means a definite thing.
6. Of course, the federation would provide for ade-
140 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
quate supervision and tests of secondary schools, to
insure the high character of the diploma.
7. As has been intimated, it is not to be supposed
that all colleges would offer all the possible combina-
tions of subjects. The larger colleges would. It
doubtless would prove good educational economy for
contiguous colleges of limited means to develop on
different lines, thus avoiding undue competition.
These suggestions are not merely theory. Begin-
nings have been made looking toward a closer union
of educational institutions. Not to mention what has
been done in New England, the correlation of colleges
and academies under the regents of the University
of New York, and the very successful co-ordination
of the State universities and State high-schools in
such States as Michigan and Minnesota, are steps in
the right direction.
What seems to be needed is a more comprehensive
and thoroughly organized voluntary union for the
ends indicated. It should be national in character.
The secondary school, then, I hold, should not be
a mere isolated nomad, an educational island. It
should be in quite definite relations to other institu-
tions of the same and of higher rank.
It should not be a mere servant of the colleges.
It should be a co-ordinate part of a definitely organized
system, with a voice in important questions of mutual
interest. Teachers in such schools should have aca-
demic recognition as of a high grade of dignit}^
Perhaps if these more intimate relations between
ADDRESS. 141
the preparatory school and the college should be
formed, there would be fewer instances of the start-
ling drop which students sometimes experience now,
when they pass from the hands of the skilful and
learned teacher of the fitting school into those of the
callow college tutor.
These are mere outline suggestions. But I am
convinced that when the American Federation of
Colleges and Secondary Schools is formed, it will
be found that the colleges are enormously strength-
ened, the fitting schools are lifted and energized, and
that no boy or girl will be kept out of college be-
cause at some time he was unconsciously shunted on
a side track that leads away from anywhere. It will
be found that in union there is strength.
ADDRESS.
BY PRINCIPAL J. C. GEEENOUGH.
THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO PEDAGOGICS.
'T^HE general purpose of this college is evident.
""- It lias always stood for sound learning and for
thorough discipline. The subject of our discussion
involves a specific work, namely, '' The specific pro-
motion of education by the college, {a) by a normal
school course included in the elective courses ; (&) by
a connection wdth the common-school system of the
neighborhood, and with University Extension."
The course thus proposed is an elective course.
We are aware that many of the alumni question the
introduction of elective courses. They urge that the
appropriate work of Williams is to enable her students
to gain fundamental knowledge and discipline, service-
able in every department of human activity, and to
develop physical, intellectual, and moral manhood.
They urge, that there shall be, first, the culture of
the man, and then the training of the workman, — that
elective courses in a college curriculum often result
in leading students to choose what is easy rather than
what is profitable.
Now, granting all that may be said of the impor-
tance of maintaining the college course in its integrity,
ADDRESS. 143
the question still remains, whether elective studies
may not wisely be introduced into the college This
question has been discussed in the governing boards
of every college in New England. It has been an-
swered by the introduction of electives. The question
now is not whether electives shall have a place in
colleges, but whether this elective shall be introduced.
Considering the number of electives now included
among the studies of this college, unless there are
valid reasons for introducing the one proposed, it
should not have a place in the curriculum. For the
sake of brevity, I may be allowed to include this
course under the term "pedagogy." The first rea-
son that may be urged for including such a course
in the curriculum of this college is, that it will pre-
sent important information, and will be adapted to
promote intellectual and moral culture. It will tend
to secure the objects of the college ; it will tend to
promote manhood.
Pedagogy includes the history of education. No
other history is more important, for teachers rather
than generals have determined the trend of human
events. The clash of arms is the terrible expression
of antagonistic ideas and opposing convictions. The
teacher may not fight, but what he has taught nerves
the arm of the warrior. Again, in the study of the
history of education, the student becomes impressed
with the personal qualities of the great leaders in
the intellectual and moral progress of the world.
No one can consider such men as Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, and other eminent teachers, without feeling
144 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
the force of tbeir convictions and the warmth of their
enthusiasm.
The study of pedagogy also includes the study of
mental science, for the purpose of apprehending those
laws upon which, as principles, all true teaching must
depend Pedagogy, on its practical side, prepares one
to present truth, and to persuade men in public affairs
and in the private walks of life. Again, the teaching
of subjects as students under training to teach must
teach, is an effective means of gaining clear knowledge,
and the ability to use what one has learned.
Sir William Hamilton, in one of his papers on
" A Reform of the English Universities," says . '' The
older universities, all of them, regarded the exercise
of teaching as a necessary condition of perfect knowl-
edge. In recent times the universities have, with
equal unanimity, neglected this. Yet there can be
no doubt of the superior wisdom of the more ancient
practice. For teaching, like the quality of mercy, is
twice blessed ; * it blesseth him that gives and him
that takes.'"
He adds : '' The preparation for and the very pro-
cess of instruction react most beneficially on the
knowledge of the instructor, if the instructor be what
(intellectually and morally) he ought."
" Teaching," he continues, " constrains to a clear
and distinct consciousness of one's subject in its sev-
eral bearings, internal and external ; it brings to his
observation any want or obscurity lurking in his com-
prehension of it as a wliole ; and urges him to master
any difficulty, the solution of which he may have
previously adjourned. The necessity of answering
ADDRESS. 145
the interrogatories of others compels him, in fact, to
interrogate and to answer himself. In short, what he
had learned syntlietically, he is now obliged, for the
inverse process of instruction, to study analytically.
By a combination of analysis and synthesis is the
condition of a perfect knowledge."
In the earlier days of our New England colleges, a
long winter vacation allowed students to teach winter
schools. It was generally claimed by the faculty of
the colleo^es that the loss of time at collesre was
largely compensated for by the development gained
by teaching
As the present arrangement of terms and the de-
mand for permanent teachers allow of no such per-
sonal training by teaching, the need is so much the
greater that the colleges provide at least an elective
course in this training.
The maintenance of a college does not find its end
alone in the personal culture of the students. Though
founded by private beneficence, such institutions exist
for the public good. From the colleges radiate knoAvl-
edge and culture. Granting all that is accomplished
in the broad work of education by graduates who enter
some one of the three learned professions, as they are
called, yet it must be allowed that the colleges diffuse
knowledge and extend their influence largely through
those graduates who in our public and private schools
teach the youth of our land. By providing better
facilities for preparing teachers, the college will more
effectively uplift the community for whose good it
was founded and is maintained.
10
246 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
Nor is tlie moral effect of teaching upon the teacher
to be lost sight of in this discussion. Preparation for
teaching properly leads one to feel the force of the
hio-hest motives. These motives are sublimely evident
in the deeds and words of the Great Teacher, ''who
came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and
to give his life a ransom." The end proposed by
teaching, namely, to help the children and youth of
our land to become true men and women, is second
to no other as a motive to worthy action. Teaching
persistently demands that one make the most of him-
self, that one may help others in the formative period
of life to make the most of themselves. If entered
upon and pursued in proper spirit and with the right
endeavor, it cannot fail to rouse and to sustain one's
moral energy. It tends strongly to kindle the noblest
aspirations.
I liave spoken of the value of a course in peda-
gogy to the student as a man seeking culture. But
in whatever employment one engages, there wdll be
occasion to teach.
The preacher must so present objects of thought to
his hearers that they will apprehend the truth respect-
ing those objects, that is, the preacher must teach.
Genuine teaching of important truth always interests
the taught. One reason why so mucli uttered from
the pulpit is uninteresting is, that there is so much
preaching without clear teaching.
Dr. McKenzie, the eminent preacher of Cambridge,
once said to me, "I find that my people are quite
ready to listen if one will teach them." And as, a
ADDRESS. 147
few Sabbaths ago, I listened to Archdeacon Farrar in
the crowded nave of St. Margaret's, London, I found in
the clearness, simplicity, and directness of his sermon
what I have learned to trace in his books, — the re-
sult of his years of experience as a teacher in
Marlborough College and elsewhere.
The lawyer must teach the jury if he would per-
suade. The ruling of the judge as he instructs the
jury is a lesson taught, and the true method of teach-
ing is the same for him as for the school teacher.
There is no employment in which the college graduate
has occasion to direct the thoughts of men in which
a pedagogical training will not increase his power.
Two questions remaining demand answer, " What
should the course proposed include! and should it
become one of the elective courses in Williams Col-
lege? To these I can now make but brief answer.
This course should include a knowledge of the human
mind, as that which through its own activity is to be
informed with truth and developed. Psychology, as
now taught here, furnishes a basis for pedagogical in-
struction in psychology. As now taught, the outlines
of mental science are presented. Those who are to
teach should study psychology again, that they may
trace the relation of every law of the mind to teach-
ing. By such study they will be led to evolve the
fundamental principles of correct teacliing, and will be
able in some degree to teach, not subjects alone, but
minds. The genius of Dr. Hopkins was especially
evident in teaching minds. When one asked him if
he did not tire of teaching over and over the same
148 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
subjects, he replied, "No, I have different students in
every class,"
The course in pedagogy should also include the
study of the method of teaching as determined by
clearly apprehended principles. One may gain a the-
oretical knowledge of this method by studying the
applications of the principles of teaching. This is the
study of method in the abstract. To this study must
be added the study of method in the concrete. This
is the study of method applied. This can be done in
no other way than observing the teaching of those
skilled in the use of the method, and noting how such
teaching affects the mind taught in different stages of
its development. This observation will lead the stu-
dent of pedagogy to study, not only the method, but
the various modifications and ajoplications of method,
as demanded by the individual minds taught. After
this observation, the student of pedagogy should him-
self have exercises in teaching, under tlie supervision
and criticism of a teacher skilled in applying the true
method, and having insight of the minds of pupils and
such sympathy with them, that there may be no lack
of adaptation to the individual needs of pupils, in
the form of what are commonly called devices. This
observation and training is the w^ork of the training
school. It is the practical side of the teacher's pro-
fessional preparation, and requires schools of different
grades, from the kindergarten to the college, in which
the application of principles and the development of
mind at different periods can be observed.
It is often remarked that nothing can be fully
ADDRESS. 149
known until it is historically known. No course of
pedagogy can be complete unless it includes tlie study
of the history of education. This is a wide field, in-
cluding as it does history both of earlier and of pres-
ent periods. The student of pedagogy should at least
be led into it, and helped to map out some of its
paths, so that his subsequent reading and study may
be profitable.
The theoretical part of the preparation for teaching,
Williams College can furnish as soon as a chair for
that purpose is properly endowed. Harvard is already
attempting it and with success. Harvard is also be-
ginning to do something in the way of securing an
opportunity for her students in pedagogy to observe
schools of different grades.
Williams College should, as soon as possible, open an
elective course in theoretical pedagogy to her students.
What is possible and what is desirable to be done in
the way of practical training, you will, I judge, soon
hear from my associate in the discussion of this ques-
tion. Those who are to teach after graduating from
this college need at least the theoretic course. There
is an increasing demand for trained teachers. Those
who enter college with the purpose of preparing them-
selves to teach will soon seek those collesres that will
furnish instruction in pedagogy. To hinder in any
way those who are to teach from entering Williams
is to prevent a still larger number from entering, for a
majority of teachers direct their students, consciously
or unconsciously, to their own alma mater. Such is
the demand for graduates of colleges who have had a
150 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
normal training that tlie Board of Education have pro-
vided a special course for graduates in some of the
State normal schools; but the colleges should, by
courses in theoretical pedagogy, lessen the work of the
normal schooh
The normal school is ready to provide opportunities
for observing schools of different grades. The normal
school is ready to teach the true method of teaching,
and to give opportunity to the college graduate to
train himself in teaching schools of different grades.
The college can teach the history of education and
theoretical pedagogy. The normal school, in short
courses, can so supplement the work of the college as
to enable the college graduate to superintend schools
of different grades, or to teach in accord with the prin-
ciples and the method which the recent progress in
pedagogy demands.
ADDRESS.
BY DEAN E. H. GRIFFIN.
THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGES TO THE PROFES-
SIONAL SCHOOLS.
'T^HE lack of a collegiate education, on the part of
so many students in our professional schools, is
a long- recoofnized and often lamented evil. The re-
ports of the United States Commissioner of Education
have, for a number of years, presented statistics upon
this subject, which, though incomplete, are doubtless
approximately accurate. The report for 1889-90,
recently issued, states the proportion of students of
theology, law, and medicine, who have received the
bachelor's degree in arts or science, as follows : stu-
dents of theology 22 per cent., students of law 21.7,
students of medicine 10 per cent. The Northern and
Northwestern States make a more favorable showing
than is represented in this average, the Southern and
Southwestern States one much less favorable ; but, tak-
ing the country at large, it would appear that scarcely
more than one fifth of the young men who are prepar-
ing to become clergymen and lawyers, and only about
one tenth of those who are looking forward to the
medical profession, have received a full academic
training. It is perhaps surprising, in view of the per-
152 "WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
sistence with which some of the great reh'gioiis de-
nominations have insisted upon an educated ministry,
that the proportion of college-bred men should not be
greater among theological students ; but in the New
England States, where this proportion is largest, it is,
according to the commissioner's tables, less than thirty-
nine per cent., while in those same States more than
forty-one per cent, of law students are graduates of
colleges. In the case of medical students the per-
centage of academically educated men is startlingly
small, being, in the South Atlantic States, according
to the report of 1888-89, less than one per cent.
There is no reason to suppose tliat, under existing
conditions, the proportion of candidates for the so-
called learned professions who will avail themselves
of college opportunities will tend to increase. On the
contrary, it is well known that this proportion is di-
minishing. There is a strong and growing tendency
to pass directly from the secondary to the professional
schools. It is true that Harvard University is soon
to require a degree in letters, science, or arts, from
all who enter its law school, that the Johns Hopkins
University requires the bachelor's degree from all
who enter its medical school, but the institutions
which make such demands will always be few. The
provost of the University of Pennsylvania, in an
address last year before the National Education
Association at Saratoga, declared that '' if the four-
year obligatory course in medicine, which will soon
be enforced at the leading schools of the country,
were to be associated with the requirement of the
ADDRESS. 153
bachelor of arts degree for admission, there would not
be a single institution that could stand the strain."
It is significant that several of our oldest and most
respectable theological schools have, within recent
years, established courses of instruction for those who
have not received a classical education. We must
admit that the colleges are not maintaining their hold
upon the learned professions, and that there is danger
that this hold will become weaker in the future.
It is desirable not to take a more unfavorable view
of this than the facts require. It would be lamentable
if we were compelled to believe that the decrease in
the proportion of academically trained students indi-
cates a lower average of attainment now than in
former years. It must be remembered that the edu-
cation furnished by the secondary schools is much
better now than formerly, and particularly we must
not forget that, within the last twenty-five or thirty
years, a large number of industrial and technical in-
stitutions have come into existence, which give a train-
ing in many respects well adapted to young men who
look forward to professional life. None the less, is it
a grave misfortune that the colleges, which represent
the tradition and the ideal of liberal culture, should
render so limited a service in what may be properly
considered their most appropriate sphere. If anything
can be done to bring them into more effective relation
to the young men who are looking forward to profes-
sional careers, one of the greatest wastes and weak-
nesses of our education will be overcome.
One reason for the drift away from the colleges has
154 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
been so far removed by tlie changes of the last few years
that we need not stop to consider it, — the feehng,
namely, that collegiate education is not a sufficiently
direct and immediate preparation for life. As obviat-
ing this criticism, the modifications of the courses and
methods of study, accomplished within recent years,
have been timely. In this college, these modifications
culminated last year in a revised schedule of studies,
providing enlarged facilities in the great departments
of knowledge, and offering the degree of bachelor of
arts without the study of Greek. It is not probable
that, at present, dissatisfaction with the methods and
results of our colleges operates, to a large extent,
upon the minds of well-informed persons.
The causes which tend to restrain young men w^ho
look forward to prolonged professional study from en-
tering upon a college course are mainly of a different
sort. The expenditure of money and of time which
is involved is, in the case of very many persons, an
obstacle which they cannot surmount, and a most
practical and important question is. Can anything be
done to make this expenditure less 1
This question is the more urgent in view of the
great enlargement of the work of the professional
schools. Within twenty years, the time requisite for
the completion of legal and medical studies has been