(Frenchcollège, Italiancollegio, Spanishcolegio)
The wordcollege, from the Latincollegium, originally signified a community, a corporation, an organizedsociety, a body of colleagues, or asociety ofpersons engaged in some common pursuit. From ancient times there existed inRome corporations calledcollegia, with various ends and objects. Thus the guilds of the artisans were known ascollegia orsodalica; in othercollegiapersons associated together for some special religious worship, or for the purpose of mutual assistance. This original meaning of the word college is preserved in some modern corporations, as the College of Physicians, or the College of Surgeons (London, Edinburgh). There were inRome other, more official bodies which bore the titlecollegium, as theCollegium tribunorum,Collegium augurum,Collegium pontificum, etc. In a similar sense the word is now used in such terms as theCollege of Cardinals (or theSacred College), the College of Electors, the College of Justice (inScotland), the College of Heralds (inEngland).
From the fourteenth century on the wordcollege meant in particular "a community or corporation ofsecular clergy living together on a foundation for religious service". The church supported on this endowment was called a collegiate church, because theecclesiastical services and solemnities were performed by a college, i.e. a body or staff ofclergymen, consisting of aprovost, or dean, canons, etc.; later, the term "collegiate" or "college church" was usually restricted to a church connected with a largeeducational institution. Some of these institutions, besides carrying out the Divine service in their church, were required to take charge of an almshouse, or ahospital, or someeducational establishment. It is here that we find the wordcollege introduced in connexion witheducation, a meaning which was to become the most prominent during succeeding centuries. It seems that in theEnglishuniversities the term was first applied to the foundations of the so-called second period, typified by New College, Oxford, 1379; from these the name gradually spread to the earlier foundations (Merton, Balliol) which originally were designated by the termaula ordomus; then it was taken by the foundations of the third period, the colleges of theRenaissance. As used ineducational history, college may be defined, in general, as "asociety of scholars formed for the purposes of study or instruction"; and in particular as "a self-governing corporation, either independent of auniversity, or in connexion with auniversity, as the College of the Sorbonne in the ancientUniversity of Paris, and the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge". In some instances, where in auniversity only a single college was founded or survived, the terms "college" and "university" are co-extensive and interchangeable. This is the case inScotland and, to a great extent, in theUnited States. Although in theUnited States many small institutions claim the ambitious title ofuniversity, it is more appropriate to apply this term to those institutions which have several distinct faculties for professional study and thus resemble theuniversities ofEurope. They differ, however, from the continentaluniversities in one important point, namely, in the undergraduate department which is connected with theuniversity proper. In some places, as in Harvard, the term "college" is now in a special sense applied to the undergraduateschool. This is the most common and most proper acceptation of the term: an institution of higher learning of a general, not professional, character, where after a regular course of study the degree of Bachelor of Arts, or, in recent years, some equivalent degree, e.g. Bachelor of Philosophy, or Bachelor of Science, is given. (SeeBACHELOR OF ARTS, and ACADEMIC DEGREES.) It is this meaning of college which will be treated in this article; all professionalschools called colleges are excluded, such as teachers' colleges (trainingschools for teachers), law and medical colleges, colleges of dentistry, pharmacy, mechanical engineering, agriculture, business, mines, etc. Nor will colleges be included which are divinityschools ortheologicalseminaries, as the numerous colleges inRome, e.g. the Collegium Germanicum, Collegium Latino-Americanum, Collegium Græcum, or the English,Irish,Scotch, North-American Colleges, and many other similar institutions.
As the origin and evolution of the college, or of its equivalent, have not been the same in different countries, it will benecessary, in order to avoid confusion, to treat separately of the colleges peculiar toEngland. These deserve special attention for the further reason that the American college is an outgrowth of the English college. Even at the present day the distinguishing characteristic of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is the existence of the colleges. Nothing like it is to be found in any other country, and the relation between these colleges and theuniversity is very puzzling to foreigners. The colleges are distinct corporations, which manage their ownproperty and elect their own officers; theuniversity has no legal power over the colleges, although it hasjurisdiction over the individual members of the colleges, because they are members also of theuniversity. Mr. Bryce has used the relation between theuniversity and the colleges as an illustration of the relations between the Federal Government and the separate States of the American Union. But one great difference has been pointed out by Mr. Rashdall: "in place of the strict limitation of spheres established by the American Constitution, thejurisdiction of both University and College, if either chose to exercise them, is legally unlimited. Expulsion from a College would not involve expulsion from the University, unless the University chose so to enact; nor could expulsion from the University prevent a man from continuing to be a member or even a Fellow of a College. The University's monopoly of the power of granting degrees is the only connecting link which ensures their harmonious co-operation" (Universities ofEurope, II, 793). The professors at Oxford areuniversity officials; tutors and lecturers are college officials; these two bodies form two different systems. The majority of students receive the greater part of theireducation from the tutors and lecturers. (For further details see "TheUniversity of Oxford" in "Ir. Eccl. Rec.", Jan., 1907.)
Although at the present day the collegiate system is peculiar to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, it was not so formerly, nor canEngland claim thehonour of having had the first colleges. This distinction belongs to theUniversity of Paris, the greatestschool ofmedieval Europe. To understand the origin of the colleges and their character, it isnecessary toknow the social conditions in which themedieval students lived. Large numbers of youths flocked to the famousuniversity towns; there may have been 6000 or 7000 students atParis, 5000 at Bologna, 2000 atToulouse, 3000 atPrague, and between 2000 and 3000 at Oxford. Writers of the latter part of theMiddle Ages have, it istrue, asserted that in preceding centuriesParis had over 30,000, and Oxford from 20,000 to 30,000 students; some popular writers of our days have repeated these statements, but the foremost historians who have dealt with this subject, as Rashdall, Brodrick, Paulsen, Thorold Rogers, and many others, haveproved that these fabulous numbers are gross exaggerations (Rashdall, op. cit., II, 581 sqq.). Still the numbers were large, many students very young, some not more than fourteen or fifteen years old; many lived in private houses, others in halls or hostels; the discipline was lax, and excesses and riots were frequent; above all, the poorer students were badly lodged and badly fed, and were at the mercy of unscrupulous and designing men andwomen. Generouspersons, inspired by the spirit of active charity, which was very pronounced during these centuries, sought to alleviate the lot of the poor students. The result was the foundation of the "houses of scholars", later called colleges. Originally they were nothing but endowedhospicia, or lodging and boarding-houses for poor students; theidea of domestic instruction was absent in the early foundations. The firstParisian colleges were homes forecclesiastical students, "academicalcloisters specially planned for theeducation ofsecular clergy". About 1180 the College of the Eighteen was founded (so called from the number of students); then Saint-Thomas de Louvre (1186), and several others in the first half of the thirteenth century. The most famous of the colleges inParis was the Sorbonne (see COLLEGE OF THE SORBONNE) founded about 1257, and intended for sixteen, later for thirty-six, students oftheology. In succeeding centuries the Sorbonne came to stand for the wholetheological faculty of theUniversity of Paris. In the course oftime theuniversity set aside the original autonomy of the colleges and gained complete control over them; in this the colleges ofParis differed widely from the English colleges. Another difference lay in the fact that most English colleges admitted students for faculties other than thetheological. The first English college, Balliol, founded about 1261, atOxford, was largely an imitation of the earlier foundations ofParis, and differed from the general type of English colleges. The real beginning of the English college system was the foundation ofWalter de Merton, who afterwards becameBishop of Rochester. Merton College, established 1263 or 1264, became the archetype of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. The scholars were to begin the study of the arts, and then to proceed totheology, a few to the study of canon andcivil law. Besides the thirteen full members of thesociety (thesocii, or Fellows), a number of young boys were to be admitted (twelve at first), as "secondary scholars", who were to be instructed in "grammar" until they were enabled to begin the study of arts.
The foundation of the secular colleges was greatly stimulated by the presence of the regular colleges, i.e. the establishments of thereligious orders in connexion with theuniversities. Thereligious orders early profited by the advantages offered in theseeducational centres, and in their turn had a considerable share in the further development of theuniversities, particularly theDominicans andFranciscans. (SeeUNIVERSITY.) TheDominicans established a house of study in theUniversity of Paris in 1218, theFranciscans 1219, theBenedictines 1229, the Augustinians in 1259. At Oxford theDominicans opened a house 1220, theFranciscans 1224. Their example was followed by theBenedictines, who founded Gloucester Hall and Durham College. Thesereligious houses formed each a miniature Studium in the midst of a greatuniversity. The young members of the orders lived in well-organized communities which gave freedom from cares and favoured quiet study, whereas other students were left to contend with the many hardships andtemptations which surrounded them on all sides. It was natural that men who realized the advantages of such a well-regulated life should endeavour to adapt this system to the needs of students who had no intention of enteringreligious communities. "The secular college would never perhaps have developed into the important institution which it actually became but for the example set by the colleges of themendicants" (Rashdall, op. cit., I, 478). Anerroneous view has been expressed by some writers, viz., that the foundation of the colleges was a symptom of the growing opposition toecclesiastical control ofeducation, and especially a sign of hostility to thereligious orders. The majority of secular colleges were founded byzealousecclesiastics, inEngland especially bybishops, most of whom were very friendly to thereligious orders. Mr. Bass Mullinger admits that Trinity Hall, Cambridge, seems to have been founded with the intention of furthering "Ultramontane interests" (Hist. of Un. of Cambridge, 41). Hugh de Balsham, aBenedictine, was the founder of Peterhouse, the first college atCambridge (1284); the third Cambridge college, Pembroke Hall, was founded in 1347 by Marie deValence, a friend of theFranciscans; one of two rectors was to be aFriar Minor, and the foundress adjured the fellows to be kind, devoted, and grateful to all religious, "especially theFriars Minor". Gonville hall, Cambridge, was founded in 1350 by Edmund Gonville, an equally warm friend of theDominicans, for whom he made a foundation at Thetford. The same can be shown with regard to Oxford. To give an instance, according to thestatutes of Balliol, one of the outside "procurators" was to be aFranciscan. The indirect influence of religious institutions is discernible also in the semi-monastic features of colleges, some of which have survived to our own times, as the common life andobligatory attendance atchapel. With regard to the latter point it is surprising to learn that the earlier colleges enjoined attendance at Mass only onSundays, Holy Days, and vigils. At Oxford, thestatutes of New College are, as far as is known, the first which require daily attendance at Mass; towards the end of the fifteenth century this daily attendance was enforced also on the students living in the Halls (Rashdall, op. cit., II, 506, 651).
The members of a college were one another'ssocii or "Fellows". In the beginning the terms "Scholars" and "Fellows" were interchangeable, but gradually the term "Fellows" was restricted to the senior or governing members, the term "Scholars" to the junior members. The Senior Scholars or Fellows were largely employed in looking after college business, in later times particularly in teaching the Junior Scholars. In the early foundations it was understood that the inmates should receive most of their instruction outside the walls of the college; but where younger members were admitted, it wasnecessary to exercise supervision over their studies, and give some instruction supplementing the public lectures. This supplementary teaching gradually became more prominent; although it is not known exactly when this importanteducational revolution took place, it seems to belong chiefly to the fifteenth century; finally the colleges practically monopolized instruction. The number of students living in the colleges was small at first; moststatutes provided only for between twelve and thirty or forty, a few for seventy or more. Most of the students continued to live outside the colleges in licensed halls or private lodgings. The lodging-house system was checked in the fifteenth century, and later the colleges absorbed most of the student population. But from the first the colleges reacted favourably on the whole student body and exercised a most salutary influence on the manners andmorals of theuniversity towns. AsCardinal Newman has said: "Colleges tended to break theanarchical spirit, gave the example oflaws and trained up a set of students who, as being morally and intellectually superior to other members of the academical body became the depositaries of academical power and influence" (Hist. Sketches, III, 221). Thus theuniversity itself was largely benefited by the colleges; it derived from them order, strength, and stability. It istrue, at a much later date, theuniversity was sacrificed to the colleges, and the colleges themselves became inactive; contrary to the intention of the founders, who had established them for the maintenance of thepoor, they were occupied by the wealthy, especially after the paying boarders, "commoners", or "pensioners", became numerous. They were at times sinecures and clubs rather than places of serious study.
William of Wykeham,Bishop ofWinchester, founded the first college outside auniversity, namely Winchester College, in 1379, for seventy boys who were to beeducated in "grammar", i.e. literature. Grammar colleges had indeed existed before, in connexion withuniversities andcathedrals; but Winchester was the first elaborate foundation for grammaticaleducation, independent of either acathedral or auniversity. From Winchester College the students were to enter New College, Oxford founded by the same patron ofeducation. The example ofWinchester was imitated in the foundations of Eton (1440), and in the post-Reformationschools of Harrow, Westminster (both on older foundations), Rugby, Charterhouse,Shrewsbury, and Merchant Taylors. These institutions developed into the famous "publicschools". During this period, as for a long time after there was no such hard and fast line between the higher and more elementary instruction as exists at the present day. Many grammarschools ofEngland did partly college work. Contrary to the common opinion, as voiced by Green, Mullinger, and others, the number of grammarschools before theReformation was very great. Mr. Leach states that "three hundred grammarschools is a moderate estimate of the number in the year 1535, when the floods of thegreat revolution were let loose. Most of them were swept away either under Henry or his son; or if not swept away, they were plundered and damaged" (English Schools at theReformation, 5-6). Be it remembered that the term "grammarschool" is used in the sense common inEngland, denoting a higherschool where the classical languages form the staple subject of instruction.
A most powerful influence on the further development of the colleges was exercised by thehumanistic movement. It cannot be denied that during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the study of the classics had been comparatively neglected, as men's minds were absorbed in scholastic studies.John of Salisbury andRoger Bacon complained bitterly about the neglect of the study of the languages. (Cf. Sandys, Hist. of Class. Scholarship, 568 sqq.) This was completely changed when the enthusiasm for the ancient classics began to spread fromItaly throughoutWestern Christendom. The "new learning" gradually made its victorious entry into the old seats of learning, while newschools were established everywhere, until, about the year 1500, "CatholicEurope presented the aspect of a vast commonwealth of scholars" (Professor Hartfelder, in Schmid's "Geschichte der Erziehung", II, ii, 140). Theschools of Vittorino da Feltre, "the first modern schoolmaster", and ofGuarino da Verona, became the models forschools in other countries. English scholars had early come in contact with Italianhumanists andschools; Grocyn, Linacre, William Latimer, William Lily, Dean Colet werehumanists, and tried to introduce the new learning into the Englishschools. The influence of theRenaissance is most clearly noticed in St. Paul's School, founded by Dean Colet in 1512, and in thestatutes ofCorpus Christi College, Oxford, 1516, where greater stress is laid on the study of Latin and Greek than in any previous foundation. Whenhumanism had gained the day, largely through the encouragement and influence of men likeBishop John Fisher,Thomas More, andCardinal Wolsey, English collegeeducation had assumed the form and character which were to remain for centuries. Themedieval curriculum of the trivium and quadrivium (seeTHE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS) had not been entirely abandoned; it survived in the new scheme ofeducation, but greatly changed and modified. Henceforth the classical languages were the principal subject of instruction, to which mathematics formed the most important addition. "Letters" were the essential foundation; the rest were considered accessory, subsidiary. Thishumanistic type ofschools lasted longer inEngland than in any other country.
In themedievaluniversities outside ofFrance andEngland there existed colleges, but nowhere did they obtain the importance and the influence which they gained inParis, and most of all inOxford and Cambridge. The colleges in the Germanuniversities, e.g. atPrague,Vienna,Cologne, as well as the Scotch colleges, were primarily intended for the teachers, and only secondarily, if at all, for the students. For the students hostels, calledbursœ, were established which were merely lodging-houses. The colleges of theNetherlands, especially those ofLouvain, came nearer the English type. The most famous college was the Collegium Trilingue atLouvain, founded in 1517 by Busleiden, after the model of the College of the Three Languages atAlcalá, the celebrated foundation of Cardinal Ximenes for the study of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. At present, there is, on theEuropean continent, no exact equivalent of the English colleges, but as far as the subjects of instruction are concerned, the Frenchlycée andcollège, the Germangymnasium, and similar institutions, in their higher classes, resemble the English colleges. Many celebrated gymnasia of Teutonic countries developed from pre-Reformationschools. In Schmid's "Geschichte der Erziehung" (V, i, 50 sqq.) there is a long list of suchschools which grew out ofmedieval institutions, e.g. the Elbing gymnasium (Protestant), established in 1536, which developed from a Senatorialschool founded in 1300; the Marienburg gymnasium, from a Latinschool established by theTeutonic Knights in the fourteenth century; the Berlin gymnasium (1540), formerly St. Peter's School (1276); the Mary Magdalen Gymnasium ofBreslau, aProtestantschool (1528), which grew out of City School (1267); the Gymnasium Illustre of Brieg (1569), a combination of the ancient Cathedral School and the City School; theLutheranschool of Sagan (1541), originally aFranciscanschool (1294). During theRenaissance andReformation period a few institutions of this kind went by the name ofCollegium, but more were styledGymnasium,Lyceum,Athenœum,Pœdagogium, orAcademia, although these names in some cases were given toschools which were ratheruniversities. Institutions of collegiate rank were also termedStudia Particularia, to distinguish them from aStudium Generale, oruniversity. In its character the gymnasium was ahumanisticschool, the classical languages being the main subject of instruction. Not only theCatholic colleges of the post-Reformation period, but also theProtestantschool systems, were based on the pre-Reformationschools, particularly those of theNetherlands. The famousschool of Zwickau in Saxony was organized between 1535 and 1546 by Plateanus, a native ofLiège, on the model of theschool of theBrethren of the Common Life inLiège. John Sturm had studied in the sameschool atLiège, in the Collegium Trilingue atLouvain, and in theUniversity of Paris, and from theseschools he derived most of the details of his gymnasium atStrasburg, which was one of the most typical and most celebrated of earlyProtestantschools. Sturm'sideas in turn largely influenced another class of German institutions, the famous Fürstenschulen of Grimma, Pforta, etc. Again,Melanchthon,honoured by the title of "founder of the German gymnasium", based his system on theeducational principles ofErasmus and otherhumanists.
Many features of college life are legacies of the past; some have already been pointed out, namely attendance atchapel and the common life in the great boarding-schools. Various forms of distinctly academical dress have grown out of college practices; no particular form of garment was prescribed byuniversity authority inmedieval institutions, but in colleges they soon began to wear a "livery" of uniform colour and material. The modern viva voce examination is the successor of the former oral disputation, the examiners now taking the place of the "opponents" of olden times. As has been shown, the support of poor and deserving scholars was the rootidea of the foundation of colleges; the scholarships in English and Americanschools, the bursarships andstipendia in theschools ofGermany and other countries, have sprung from, and perpetuate, the sameidea. In the provision for the Senior Scholars, in the fellowships of themedieval colleges, and in the practice of endowing professorships withprebends, there was an early systematic attempt at solving the question of professors salaries. In these and other features, modern college systems are intimately linked with theCatholic past.
The continuity ofeducational ideals, and the diversity of their application, according to national needs and characteristics, is well illustrated by the American college. As regards its origin, it is an outgrowth of the English college, in particular of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where John Harvard had beeneducated. In more than one respect, especially in the fundamentalidea of liberal training as the proper preparation for the higher or professional studies, it perpetuates theeducational traditions which spread fromParis, and later from thehumanisticschools ofItaly, to Oxford and Cambridge, and thence were transplanted to theNew World. However, the elements derived fromEurope were modified from the very beginning and have been still more changed since the foundation of Harvard, so much so that at present there is no exact counterpart of the American college in any other country. There are at present (1908) in theUnited States over four hundred and seventy institutions which confer degrees and are calleduniversities or colleges, not counting those which are forwomen exclusively. In some cases, as has well been said, the name "university" is but a "majestic synonym for college", and some of the colleges are only small high schools. Before the American Revolution 11 colleges were founded, chief among them Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), Yale (1701), Princeton (1746), University ofPennsylvania (1751), Columbia (1754), Brown (1764), Dartmouth (1770); from the Revolution to 1800, 12, one of themCatholic, atGeorgetown,District of Columbia; 33 from 1800 to 1830; 180 from 1830 to. 1865; and about 240 from 1865 to 1908. The older foundations in the East are independent of State control, but possess charters sanctioned by legislation. Many of the more recent foundations, especially in Western and Southern States, are supported and controlled by the State; on the other hand, denominational control has largely disappeared from the old colleges and is excluded from most new foundations. At present about one-half of the colleges are registered as non-sectarian. From the early part of the nineteenth century efforts were made to offer towomen the sameeducational opportunities as to men. Mount Holyoke Seminary,Massachusetts (1837), and Elmira College (1855), were nearly equivalent to the colleges for men. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (1865), however, has been styled the "legitimate parent" of the colleges forwomen, as it established the same standard as that of colleges for men. Vassar College, Wellesley College (1876), Smith College (1875), Mount Holyoke College (1893), Bryn Mawr (1885), and the Woman's College, Baltimore (1885), are the most importantwomen's colleges in theUnited States. Others are affiliated with colleges oruniversities for men, as Radcliffe, with Harvard. Many Western and Southern colleges are co-educational.
The American college has been the main repository of liberaleducation, of an advancededucation of general, not technical or professional, character. The "old-fashioned" college had a four-year course of prescribed studies: Latin and Greek, the inheritance of thehumanistic period, and mathematics, to which had been added in the course oftime naturalsciences, the elements ofphilosophy, and still later,English literature. Modern languages, especially French, were taught to some small extent. Since the Civil War changes have been introduced which are truly revolutionary. Some colleges have grown intouniversities with different faculties after the model ofEuropean, especially German,universities; these institutions have two principal departments, theuniversity proper, for graduate, or professional work, and the collegiate department in the stricter sense of the word. But this very collegiate course has undergone a far-reaching transformation; the line of separation betweenuniversity and college proper has been largely effaced, so that the college is a composite institution, of a secondary and higher nature, giving instruction which inEurope is given partly by the secondaryschools, partly by theuniversities. The causes of this and other changes are manifold. The nineteenth century saw the extraordinary development of the "high school", a term, which in theUnited States means a secondaryschool with a four-year course between the elementary (public)school and the college. In 1900, there were over 6000 public and nearly 2000 privateschools of this grade with over 630,000 pupils, more than one-half of these beingfemale students. Part of the work of theseschools was formerly done in the college. The result of this separation and development of the secondaryschools was, first, an increase of the age of applicants for college, and, secondly, higher entrance requirements. In consequence of the increase of age, many students now pass directly from the high school to professional studies, as few professionalschools require a college diploma for admission. On the other hand, in order to gain a year or two, some colleges have shortened the course from four to three years (Johns Hopkins); others have kept the four-year college course, but allow the students to devote the last year, or even the last two years partly to professional work (Harvard, Columbia).
A second cause of the modifications mentioned, and one that affected the college seriously was the excessive expansion of the college curriculum, the pressure of many new subjects for recognition, some of which pertain rather to professionalschools. The advance in, and enthusiasm for, the naturalsciences during the nineteenth century effected changes in theschools of all civilized countries. In many quarters there was a clamour for "practical" studies, and the old classical course was decried as useless, or merely ornamental; its very foundation, the theory ofmental or formal discipline, well expressed in the termgymnasium for classicalschools inGermany, has been vigorously assailed, but not disproved. At present the pendulum seems to swing away from theutilitarian views of Spencer and others, and the conviction gains ground that the classics, although they can no longer claim theeducational monopoly, are after all a most valuable means of liberal culture and the best preparation for professional studies. To meet the difficulty arising from the multitude of new studies and the growing demand for "practical" courses, the elective system was introduced. This system, in its more extreme form, is by many regarded as detrimental to serious work; few students are able to make a wise choice; many are tempted to choose subjects, not for their intrinsic value, but because they are more easy or agreeable; they follow the paths of least resistance and avoid the harder studies of greatereducational value. To avoid these evils a compromise has been invented in some colleges in the form of a modified election, the group system, which allows the choice of a certain field of studies, of groups of subjects regulated by the faculty. Some choice in certain branches has been found profitable, but it is now a very general opinion that the elective system can be employed in the college only with many limitations and safeguards, and that certain valuable literary, or "culture" studies in the best sense of the term, should beobligatory. American educators of the highest repute have come to regard early specialization as a dangerous pedagogicalerror, and they maintain that the elective principle has its proper place in theuniversity. Another result of the encroachment of theuniversity on the college is the disappearance of the old-fashioned teacher with a good generalknowledge and practical skill as an educator; his place is taken by the specialist, who more resembles theuniversity professor, who lectures rather than teaches, and comes little in contact with the individual student; the classes are broken up, and courses take their place. This means the loss of an importanteducational factor, namely, the personal influence of the teacher on the pupil. The larger colleges are particularly exposed to this danger; in the smaller colleges there is more personal intercourse between the faculty and the students, generally also stricter discipline.
The American college is, at the present time, in a state of transition, in a condition of unrest and fermentation. The questions of the length of the college course, of the proper function of the college, of its relation touniversity work, of the elective system, of the relative value of classics and modern languages, natural and socialsciences — all these are topics of general discussion and matters of vital importance and, at the same time, questions beset with great difficulties. Hence it is not surprising to find prominent educators ranged on different sides, some advocating far-reaching changes, others, more conservative, warning against hazardous experiments. Modern conditions undoubtedly demand changes in the college; it would be most desirable if the old literary curriculum and instruction insciences and other new subjects could be combined into a harmonious system. The present tendency of the college seems to be to undertake too much in subjects and methods, instead of remaining the culmination of secondary training, the final stage of generaleducation.
RASHDALL,The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1895), I, II; BRODRICK,History of the University of Oxford (London, 1886); MULLINGER,The University of Cambridge (2 viols., Cambridge, 1883); IDEM,History of the University of Cambridge (London, 1888); DENIABLE AND CHATELAINE,Chartering Universalism Parisians (Paris, 1889-1896); BOUZOUKI,The University of Paris inCatholic University Bulletin (July, Oct., 1895, Jan., 1896); BROTHER ACACIAS,University Colleges in Am. Cathy. Q. Rev. (Oct., 1893., Jan., 1804); WOODWARD,Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist Educators (Cambridge, 1897); IDEM,Studies in Education during the Age of the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1906); EINSTEIN,The Italian Renaissance in England (New York, 1902); RUSSELL,German Higher Schools (New York, 1899); PAULSEN,Geisha. des gilchrist Underprices au den deutsche Schoolmen undo Universities (2nd ed., 2 viols., Leipzig, 1896); SCHMIDT,Geschichte der Erziehung (Stuttgart, 1889 and 1901), II, ii and V, i; NEWMAN,Historical Sketches, III:Rise and Progress of Universities (charmingly written, but with no great value as history). — For the history of the word:New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, ed. MURRAY (Oxford, 1893), II.
Monographs on Education in the United States, ed. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, particularly WEST,The American College (Albany, 1899); SCHWICKERATH,Jesuit Education (St. Louis, 1905), with special reference to American college conditions, chapter x:The Intellectual Scope; xi:Prescribed Courses or Elective Studies?; xii:Classical Studies; Special Report on Educational Subjects (London. 1902), IX-XI;Educational Review (New York, Jan., 1901; May, 1902; Sept., 1906, etc.); articles inThe Atlantic Monthly and inThe Forum.
APA citation.Schwickerath, R.(1908).College. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04107b.htm
MLA citation.Schwickerath, Robert."College."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 4.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1908.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04107b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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