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 426 EDUCATION tails affecting the health, comfort, and mental activity of the student. The organization of free evening schools as a part of the system of public instruction is of comparatively recent origin, but the growth in their number and efficiency has been marked. They are pro- vided chiefly in the large cities and manufac- turing districts, and are intended to afford in- struction in the ordinary branches to those adults and others who are prevented by em- ployment from attending the day schools. Of the 141 cities having 10,000 or more inhabi- tants that reported to the bureau of education in 1872, 51 had 218 evening schools, with 1,350 teachers and 60,297 pupils ; of 82 cities with a population between 5,000 and 10,000, 7 were reported as having 14 schools of this class, with 20 teachers and 555 students ; while of 103 cities having less than 5,000 inhabitants, 7 reported 9 evening schools with 312 pupils. In addition to the public schools, private schools for all grades and classes of students are extensively encouraged and patronized. In this manner many denominational schools are supported, especially by the Roman Catho- lics. So far as the state is concerned in the control and support of education, public in- struction is generally limited to the common schools, embracing the primary, grammar, and high, including academies; and beyond the last named grade means for education in most instances is dependent upon individual or cor- porate provision. Institutions of the high- est class, such as universities, colleges, schools of science, &c., are in a few of the states maintained at the public expense; but in most they are supported by income from tui- tion and by endowments under the direction of private corporations, which are exempted from taxation. Where tuition is charged, the rate is always low. Institutions of this class are everywhere protected and encouraged by favorable laws and charters. No definite line of classification can be drawn separating uni- versities, colleges, academies, and seminaries for advanced instruction. The mode of or- ganization and government, and the system of instruction, are often the same in an acad- emy as in a college or university. Nor is there any standard of requirements to determine whether an institution shall be admitted to either of these classes. Consequently the va- riety among colleges, for example, as far as concerns the endowment of the institution, the number of instructors and pupils, the extent and thoroughness of instruction, and the general facilities for affording advanced education, may be so great as to suggest no comparison or similarity. Many institutions, therefore, assuming the name of college or university, are insignificant in comparison with the best institutions of that class. The repre- sentative American college is a corporation deriving its charter and powers from the state, and supported by endowment and funds arising from gifts, tuition, &c. Its external adminis- tration is vested in a board of overseers or trustees, some of whom are appointed by the state, while it is governed more immediately by a faculty composed of professors and in- structors. The chief executive officer is a president, generally chosen by the overseers or trustees. The course of study extends through four years, and embraces the ordinary branches of advanced learning, such as ancient and modern languages, mathematics, the sciences, philosophy, logic, &c. Students are admitted at from 16 to 18 years of age, after examina- tion. In most colleges all the studies are re- quired, while in others the student has a choice of different branches. Instruction is adminis- tered by recitations and lectures, chiefly the former. "Written and oral examinations are frequent, and annual written examinations are held as a condition of passing from a lower to a higher class, there being four classes in all. Degrees are conferred upon those students who pass a successful written examination which is frequently limited, however, to the studies of the last year of the course. Dis- cipline and attention to study are secured by a graded system of marks of merit and demerit. Many of these institutions have various funds for indigent and meritorious students, consist- ing of prizes, loans, scholarships, &c., arising from gifts by individuals. In some cases a student may defray the expenses of his educa- tion from these sources. The degree usually conferred at graduation is that of bachelor (A. B.), while the master's degree (A. M.) is con- ferred three years later, the only condition ex- cept at Harvard being the payment of a fee. The degree of bachelor in the various profession- al and scientific departments is also conferred, while doctor of divinity (D. D.) and doctor of laws (LL. D.) are granted as honorary degrees. In the United States there is no university or university instruction according to the Euro- pean classification, especially that adopted in Germany. There are, however, more than 100 organizations that assume that title, which may be divided into three general classes : de- nominational universities, founded and man- aged by religious sects ; non-sectarian, which, though in the main independent, are partly endowed and controlled by the state ; and those originally founded and wholly controlled by the state. Several institutions, however, par- take of the university character, such as Har- vard and Cornell universities and Yale and Columbia colleges, whose organizations em- brace, besides the academic department, pro- fessional and technical schools with numerous professorships, libraries, museums, collections, apparatus, &c., for the most advanced instruc- tion. The oldest and most completely devel- oped institution of this class is Harvard uni- versity in Cambridge, Mass., which may be taken as a representative of the most advanced instruction afforded in the United States. It embraces an academic department, with a four years' course of study ; a divinity school, three