really means often deprives the younger teachers of the supervision (or coöperation, if that is a more pleasing term) of their elders. This is particularly serious, because our younger instructors are picked from the graduate schools of the country, where the art of teaching is to-day elaborately neglected. Summer Session and Extension Teaching The fact that the budget of the Summer Session and that of Extension Teaching are made up separately from the budget of the University as a whole, operates unintentionally I know, but none the less effectively, to the disadvantage of Collegiate teaching. When these branches were in the tentative stage a separate financial machinery was wise and necessary; but, now that they have become standardized and their future needs can be foreseen as well as anywhere else. in the University, the possibility of a change in our procedure may at least be suggested. Given a hard and fast salary scale for the junior grades and these two outside opportunities for increasing salaries, and what happens? The particularly desirable Collegiate instructor is almost universally under temptation to leave our service and go elsewhere at a higher salary, and possibly a more exalted title. To hold this instructor, a position in Extension Teaching, or in Summer Session, or both, is found for him. As a result in too many instances his work is done by an overworked man with neither appetite nor opportunity for mental growth, or the amount of his collegiate work is reduced. It can be seen that neither of these results is to the interest of the College. I submit that, given the same amount of instruction and the same salary total as at present, the departments could do distinctly more for Columbia College, and for Barnard College as well, if they could make their plans as a unit. Considerable progress in efficiency might, it seems to me, be made through gaining more time for actual teaching through the more general employment of printed syllabi and readinglists, and simplification of tests of progress. Formal lecturing and dictation are historic survivals with an honorable past, but are no longer practical and economical methods of conveying information to students. The whole question of the personal relations among the students, and their contact with the University as a whole, and with individual officers, has a very important bearing on the efficiency of teaching, but many fundamental matters with regard to these relations are still in the stage of discussion or experimentation. The point of view of the American college student is obscured by many more or less absurd intellectual, social, and other conventions. It is not easy to find what he honestly feels, and what he really wants. The Faculty which goes ahead without such knowledge is likely to make serious mistakes. While, therefore, we have learned much during the year, we have much more to learn, and for this reason it seems wiser to postpone any discussion of these matters until a later report. Another method of attack, as contrasted with general improvement in efficiency, is the adoption of special devices or schemes of Collegiate study. New Courses As I have indicated earlier, it will be most interesting to see the part that will be played by the newly established three-year course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science, not only as a preparation for professional work in Engineering, but as a possible basis for similar programs looking forward to Medicine, and also to teaching or research in Science, and possibly to Commerce as well. A second device to be taken into consideration, as an attempt by the Faculty to be a cause of scholarship in others, is the system recently established whereby a student may become a candidate for a degree with honors, and may thereupon pursue a much more independent career as an undergraduate. Any such system can be known only by its fruits, and as yet only five. men have taken the degree with honors. If, however, we can regard their work as typical products of the plan, any one who was present at the final oral examinations of these students will, I am confident, be optimistic as to its outcome. The students, too, seem to be interesting themselves in the course for honors, the number of candidates being as follows: 1910-11, 20; 1911-12, 35; 1912-13, 42, with the fall registration to be added. The amount of coöperation received from the different departments in putting this system on its feet is very irregular. This is partly due to the nature of the different subjects, and partly to the presence, in the departments where the best work is being done, Honors Program of some officer who believes heartily in the system and who is willing to take a good deal of personal trouble to put it upon a satisfactory basis so far as his own students are concerned. The possibility of a third device in the interests of the student who wishes to take his Bachelor's degree without professional work was eloquently set forth by Professor Woodbridge in his Phi Beta Kappa Address in June. The plan, upon which Professors Woodbridge, Keyser, and Erskine have put a great deal of thought, is, in rough outline, as follows: Conference Students who are ready to enter the Junior class of Columbia College may elect what has been tentatively christened the "Conference Program." Two years residence will be necessary for a degree, there being no provision for advanced standing. The course of study is to be arranged not on departmental lines, but the aim will be to represent among the teachers the principal divisions of knowledge. A certain number of professors have already offered to conduct, in addition to their present programs, one three-hour course continued through two years. None of these courses are to be elementary, the students being expected to familiarize themselves, by private study, with the elementary parts of the subject not already covered by their previous Collegiate work. A charge of $75.00 per half year is proposed. Each student is to appear at least twice a year before a conference of all the instructors and students of the group and to present, by means of an essay or otherwise, evidence of the progress of his studies. This conference which, in plan, is not unlike the Disputations of the Medieval Universities, is to be held weekly. It is designed to be the educational center of the program. The total hours of attendance on lectures prescribed for the degree are to be considerably less than under the present program, it being the expectation that participation in and preparation for the conferences will take up a considerable part of the students' time and energies. Each student is to present to the Faculty, not later than April 15 of the year of his graduation, an essay on a topic proposed by himself and approved by the Committee in Charge at least one year before graduation. The essay must show mastery of the topic with which it deals. This proposal, as will be seen, involves an educational experiment made possible through the voluntary co-operation of a group of University professors, with a view to proving with a picked group of students that the cause of liberal study may be advanced more effectively in a metropolitan university than in a small separate college, because of the wider range from which the teachers may be chosen. One of the first questions which arises is as to what the effect of such a plan would be upon the present honors program. This latter, it seems to me, promises too well to be lightly cast aside. That the two may be combined is, of course, possible, but a combination of this kind would involve greater detailed thought than has at present been given to the matter by the Faculty. The whole question will doubtless be the subject of careful Faculty consideration during the coming year, not only at the formal meetings, but at the informal dinners which are establishing themselves as a pleasant and useful feature of our academic life. All this goes to show that our College community is in its accustomed state of ferment. The College in a city University may lack some of the qualities of the separate and sequestered institution (though I personally believe these lacks to be far less important than is sometimes supposed); but, on the other hand, the innumerable stimuli striking its life from the life of the city and the life of the University about it, keep us safe from complaisancy and resulting intellectual stagnation. We must guard against being pulled up by the roots too frequently and too violently, and also against the sapping of our strength by other University activities. In the mean time the danger of dry-rot is not immediate. Respectfully submitted, June 30, 1912. FREDERICK P. KEPPEL, Dean. SCHOOL OF LAW REPORT OF THE DEAN FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1912 To the President of the University, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of progress of the Law School for the academic year ending June 30, 1912. The total number of students registered during the year was 465, an increase of 60 over the total number registered during the academic year 1911-12. The registration of the respective classes was as follows: Third Year-Class of 1912.... Total..... Registration 112 147 180 26 465 The registration of the First Year Class included 48 qualified seniors in Columbia College, as compared with 32 last year and 35 the year before. The degree of LL.B. was awarded to 114 candidates. Eight candidates from the Third Year or previous classes failed to pass some of the required examinations, and did not receive the degree. Two non-matriculated students who had completed with especial excellence the work of the School required for the degree of LL.B. were awarded the degree by a special vote of the Faculty. The Master of Laws degree was awarded to one candidate. There has been a notable increase in the number of students in the School since it moved into Kent Hall in 1910, it having increased during that period from a total membership of 358 65 |