Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/992

936

child from the rigid grade system of promotion, by which a failure in one subject necessitates the repetition of the whole year's work, to permit earlier a choice of courses and thereby prepare the pupil for greater accomplishment in his chosen field during the later high-school years. The public secondary schools have grown by leaps and bounds in numbers and re- sources. Their enrolment doubled in the 10 years 1908-18 and between the years 1918 and 1920 there was a proportionate in- crease. They are no longer essentially stepping stones to college; they represent the continuation of the common schools, and their function is to complete the formal education of that vast majority which will never enter institutions of higher learning.

Colleges and Universities. Throughout the country, but espe- cially in the west and middle west, so called "junior colleges" are becoming numerous. The term is somewhat a misnomer. Some of these institutions are derived from small, non-tax-sup- ported colleges which, finding themselves financially unable to continue satisfactorily the full four-year course, limit themselves to two years, and others, more significantly, from the upward extension of the vigorous public high schools. This type not only brings the opportunity for higher education within the reach of many who could not leave the immediate vicinity of their homes, but also reacts favourably on the pupils and teachers of the secondary schools from which it grew. The college remains the most characteristically American feature of educational develop- ment in the United States. In 1920 there were enrolled more than 250,000 college students. Entrance requirements have become less rigid, as indicated by the recommendation of the conserva- tive Association of New England Colleges: that its members adopt " a system of tests for admission in which a certificate shall be taken for the quantity, and examination shall be held in a limited number of subjects for the quality, of school work." The cur- riculum covers a very wide range of subjects, but experience has shown that it is unwise to permit the student to exercise un- trammelled freedom in the choice of his studies, and most colleges now limit the selection of courses in such manner as to prevent too great concentration and too great dispersion as well. The universities, though not more numerous, have in recent years grown stronger. Their graduate departments, better manned, attract more students. In this respect the development of the state-supported institutions has been remarkable. A few years ago only three had achieved distinction in this, field; by 1921, 12 had qualified for membership in the Association of American Universities, and constituted one-half of its members. The enrolment of graduate students in all universities was in 1916 11,215; in 1920 it was upwards of 16,000. So great has become the demand among women for higher education that the colleges exclusively for women are no longer able to provide for the rapid- ly increasing number of applicants for admission. Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith and Mt. Holyoke have been forced to establish waiting lists. The doors of the universities for the most part stand open to women upon an equal footing with men. By 1920, 44% of the students, graduate and undergraduate, en- rolled in the universities, colleges and technological schools, were women, and it may confidently be predicted that they will soon outnumber the men. The general admission of women to courses in medicine removes practically the last barrier dis- criminating between the sexes.

Professional Education. Schools -for professional training have grown rapidly. Whereas a century ago professional educa- tion comprised little more than preparation for the ministry, it now includes theology, medicine, law, the new profession of engineering, and two offshoots of medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine. Pharmacy and nursing are sometimes re- garded as professions because a specialized education is pre- scribed for those who would practise them.

Theology. The colleges first founded in what is now the United States, Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale, were established to train men for the Christian ministry. As the colleges have developed into universities the original aim has been merged into the broader purpose of providing liberal educa- tion for all, while influential schools of theology have grown up,

for the most part, as strictly denominational institutions inde- pendent of the universities. During recent years the content of the curriculum and methods of teaching have been revised. Formal theology is emphasized less, a first-hand knowledge of human relationships more; Hebrew is not always obligatory, while the results of literary and historical criticism are fully dis- cussed. Freedom of thought in some institutions has completely liberalized the training and greatly modified the traditional theology. During the years 1870-95 the number of theological students increased more rapidly than the general population. During the next 25 years the figures show marked fluctuations, but for the period as a whole neither student enrolment nor the number of graduates kept pace with the increase in population.

Medicine. The medical schools of the United States were slow to adjust themselves to the new conditions brought about by the growth of medical science. They followed the model of continental Europe rather than that of Great Britain, in that the teaching was almost exclusively by lectures but imposed no definite requirement as to preliminary education. There was lacking also, for the most part, stimulating contact with colleges or universities of high academic ideals; and therefore there developed an organization which lent itself readily to com- mercialism. In recent years, however, medical teaching has been revolutionized, and now exemplifies the highest standards of professional education. The rapid development of physiology, pathology, embryology, chemistry and hygiene has necessitated the enlargement of the curriculum to include these subjects. Laboratory methods of teaching have been introduced at very great cost for buildings and equipment. Teachers qualified by training and experience have superseded practising physicians as instructors in the fundamental sciences; in the clinical branches also pedagogical standards have been raised. Satisfactory pre- liminary education is regarded as essential, and all recognized medical schools (1921) require of candidates for admission the completion of the four-year secondary school course and at least two years of college work, including physics, chemistry and biology. Cornell, Western Reserve, and Leland Stanford require three years of college for entrance; Harvard a degree from, or two years of high rank in, a college or scientific school; Johns Hopkins a Bachelor's degree or its equivalent. Most significant of all, the student is again brought into intimate contact with the sick; hospitals and dispensaries are used as laboratories where the prospective physician may acquire skill in examining patients and familiarity with the manifestations of disease. The degree of Doctor of Medicine is conferred on completion of the medical course, which in nearly all schools is four years in length. A few institutions require also a fifth year, spent as an interne in a hospital, before granting the degree. Advancing educational requirements, the consequently greater cost of medical training, and the increasing knowledge and interest of the public in mat- ters of public health have combined to reduce the number of medical schools from its maximum of 162 in 1906 to 85 in 1920; of medical students from 28,142 in 1904 to 14,088 in 1920; and of medical graduates from 5,747 in 1904 to 3,047 in 1920.

Law. Legal education in the United States began in a kind of apprenticeship, an intimate personal relationship with a practising lawyer. The increasing complexity of legal machinery and the resulting specialization on the part of legal practitioners rendered it impossible for a student to gain a complete education in a single office. Schools were therefore established offering systematic courses of lectures, and attendance on such schools, in addition to a clerkship in a law office, is now required for admission to the bar. The length of the law course has been increased from one to two and from two to three years and the curriculum correspondingly enriched. In some instances the student is permitted a choice of elcctives. Most schools have adopted the " case method " of teaching, which consists in presenting to the student the records of selected cases. These records he analyzes, and from them deduces the legal principles involved. Lectures and moot courts are also employed. The minimum of preliminary training required for admission to a recognized law school is the completion of the four-year secondary