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Popular Education At The University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Popular Education At The University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor image
Parent Issue
Day
14
Month
September
Year
1892
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

From the time of Plato to thfe present the the-ory oí educatlon entertained by a peopte lias lKen said to reilect their eurrent ideal of life, and the development of schools and of the 'other means of learning has been accepted as the mirror of a nation'e projrress. It was tliis thought whirh indueed me t describe the rniwrsitv of Mic'higaii. The eiicpèsB of the university lias imii'iil b ■en remarkable. Fminded on the .urant oí land for hiiiher educatioin containod in the ordiïiance of 177S. it seems f rom the set t Have been guided ''.v !l spirit of liberality and Oönildence in the people ■Which in theory ought to characterlze a pnibllc institutkm. lts hisioit nml inflwenee and the qiilckness ■with wilch it has responded to the changtng needs of the people are accepted arguments tor higher education by the stiate. it is indeed fitting that on the -vall over the platform where eiiiht thnusand huadred and ïfictcen men 'and vumen have, during the past twenty-aue years. ï'ecei'ved from him who still presides OTer the institution, their diplomas of graduation, these words of Thomas Jeiferson, quoted from the ordinant'e of 1787, should be inscribed: Religión, Morality, and Knowledge being Neceseary to Good Government and the Happmess oí Mankind, SchiOOia and the Meaus of Education Khall forever be encouraged." As an idea the history of tlie university eoies back to 1871, althou'gh the Miea (lid not amóme definite form until some years later. In 1841 the doors of the irartitution were first Opened for instruotion. and nine Btuilfiits availed themsolvcd oí its. udvantage; during the academie year just cloteed, twx'nty-six hundred and ninety-two' rtudents were In attendance on the uuiversity. The first. class, numbei'in.i; twelvej was graduated in 1H4-5; on tlie last commeneement day ix hundred and ninety namee "Tere added to the roll of alumni. ThTJB withln the span of an ordinary life. the nniversity has grown from notbing to become the largest in-titution of leernlng in the United otates. It is certainly pertinent to inquire what may be the secret of this phenomenal development. Is it merely the result oí good fortune? Is it because the interests oí the unievrsity Iiave been entrusted to ex eptionally wise men? Or is it due to some peeuliaritj' of orgiuazation? In the place of a formal history, I ■vill notiee what is peculiar to the university or characteristic of lts organizatimi, since in this manner the meaning of its history will be more perfect ly appr-ecintd. The first and most important feature is tliat the l'iinxT.sity of Michigan is a tafee inútil ution, and as t-uch it has been obliged to sit quietly foy and see it.s rivaLs, resting on private foundations, vwwp in the staken of private lH'ntivoleiu-i-. TUis has been irequently oepiored by the friends of the univereity, but tliere are some reawns for bellering that it is tho ECret of its rapid srowth and of the niarked inílueuce which it has exerted on the development of cducation. In the transitioai t'roni the narrow and rigid to the broad and liberal curriculum of studies whlch every student of the hitory of pedaROK.v recognizes to have taken place during the last thirty years, the University of Michigan hae been the pioneer. It has con.stantly offered new features of education in response to the new demande oí a prograssiive civilization. A considerable portion of the land now occupied by tlie city of Toledo was once property of the university. It would doubtletss be pressing the argument too far to m-ye that the lowe of tliis ppoperty wa a blessing in disirniKc; hut it is truc. as attested by the mete in th caso, tliat the dissipation of the Federal grant mit.il all that now remains is a permanent annuiity of tliirty tliousand dollirs has compelled the uni'versity to r'ly nuoTe and more on the good will of tlve peoplc of Mltehigan, and this ha necetasitated the constant exer■ ís e of a keen and discrimina ting appreciiation of the needs of the state. The idleas welcomed in such an instltutïan cannot be the sort which, as r-apehot remarbs, fiud "thoir home 'm academies and out of their dlgnlíted Windows pooli-pooh new things," tor it is tlie idea of new thing to which a. univerf-ity restins on popular approval must throw open ltÉ doore. Another faot sliould be noted in thlto connection which strensthens the tlvought thus preseuted. Tlie Rovernm body of the Unlverelty of Michigan te eleí-ted by popular suífrase and is regarded as an independent braiu-h of the govennnent co-orclinate with the terfskuture. Thte is indeed a unique ieauire. Asa forra of organización the condemaation of theorists, fout ït has woi-ki-d iduiirably. Oertain prevautkms have been taken to guard tbe r,invTsit.v froni thé ordioary poliicical itflwkücem. Xlius the ejeettan of recente takes place, together w;ih the electlon of judgee , ;hi. -r.piïini' cemrt, in an "off" year, ;ii'i ÈOtil partil.'s have for the most pari peifrained frosn degrading their i;'fi ■■- 10 political end The office óf recent is regarded ae one of t!ie tno.st honorable in the fctft of the pip, as i at testad "liy tlit presence 11 tlu' es&ting board oí a gentleman who declinad a nniination to conri-ss in a f ure distrk-t, accepting i iv proférence the place he now holds. It wyuld be impossible to brlng the university into eloser organic relatúiou with the people than to intrust (!t government to an elected baard, and to obüge this board to come ior uiï!k"S to an electfid legislature. Sucïi an oganization ovinces a conMde&ce in popular suffrage which gives the Inertitutio" a truly democratie aud raakes Lt the most perU'ri educational counterpart of American life. Thus what in thoory ought :} have resulted in the confusión of the uniwrsity has proven to be a vital principie oi its life, and what, according to Tory ideas, gliould have obstrm-ted the Krowth of au institutiou of learning, ha in faet given mpulse and direction to its developtuent. Thi is attested by the hietory of the university. froim the bezinning to tlie present. Not ouly is the university by virtue of itfi orcranization in sym-pathy with the state- it is an organic part of the general system of public Instruction, realizing in this particular also the ideal of educatioa entertained by Thomas Jefierson. The honor of havng given definite form to the educattonal ystean of Micliigan belongs to the Riev. Johu D. Pieive, the firnt superintendent of public Instruction. Sho-rtly after havhig come to the terrtitory, in 1831, a copy of Cous-in'-s fa mouw "Iïeport on Edueation in i'rusKia" 'feil into his hands. His imiiii'uation was fired with tht thought of the possibility affo-rded bjr an applüsathm of such a eystem to tlio the new and undeveloped state; and when he was called upon to frame a aw for the organization of education 'n Michigan, it waJS not the New Engand college wiith its private acadamies which furnished him the ideal. but the simple, harmonious. and conplete system of state eduoation most perieotly realióed iu Prussia. It wbuld be imponible to overest Oma te the far-reaehinK influente of thiw law; oot only did it give permamaaent chaxacter t't education in MiteWgan, but the entire northwest Ivas feit tte influencie; íot in mattns of educatton the state of the northwest have largely iollo'wt'd the lcad oí Michigan. The ideal of the university wliieh íound expression in this law was that oj a Germán university. Tlie Eirst steps were indeed rlditulous when compared wlth the fulness of the model whlch was accepted, but the ideal has ncvcr been lost to view. As expressed by Prof. Calvin Thomas: "A univTsit y in the (ierman sonso iw an instituti'on crowning the edueatiiooal systm of a state, treatinj; its studemts as free adults engaged in a lxjitta-fikle ])ursuit oí knowledge, offerins it advantages at the lowest ptMedfele price, eendïng down its roots into the life of the people, to take thence the sap of lts own vitality, and payimii back the debt by ralsing the tevel of liiutelligence and addlng to the vahie and ddfenity of life throiiiliout the entire commonwpalth." But how, t ínay be asked, doea the University of Michigan "crown the educatïonal system of the state?" Wtoat relatton ha it to the common schoon? The pelation that exista te a very simple ome. The graduates prtvate schools are pennitted to enppivate .schmoolis are permitted to enter the umi vers i ty without examination, pi-ovided the whools trom whicli they come have been examined and apppóved by a cbnimittee of the faculty. In thii's manner tlie university exercitses a direct infhwnce on the schools: poor teachers are weeded out, iinproper text-books are eicluded, and uniform ooursses of Btudy are introiliued. Tluis arrangement is as familiar iiOTV with the unlversitie of the west as ït i.s simple and efficiënt, but ft was seriously crltlcteed whea it was first amule by th rnivi'i-sily of Mi'-hijraii. Much of the efficiency, of educatton in the state in traceable to it. It is natural that an institvition broujïht i'uto such intima te relations with the common ieople should feel alinost fiistantly the appearance o{ new fortes tend'i'ns to intensify or to modi'fy their ciilizatian. The year 1840 marked the begmning of a new era fn Aanerioan life. Ten years of experi'iiM'nt with railways has shown that dii'stance need no longer be a barríe to commorce, and that the best tands, rather than navijalile gt reame, miight tor the future direct the mlgrations of the jeople. A new impulse was fïïvein tx inventions and a ncw lilne öf aetivity opened up to men trained in sctenee and in commercial arts. The pedarogical cuestión preeented by this state of af f airs was whether the uni'versities should providc fch'is training, or -wlietlier it slunild be obtained in a loóse, haphazard, unscientiíie mamier. It is to the enduirtag lionor o; the l'niversity oï MJfhigan that forty years before most iinstitntions of learning in thfe country acknowledged the extötenoe ol tlie question, the aecessity tor scientific training wae clearly reeOignized and a eouise was ïald out leadi'ng to tin? new áegree of "Bachelor of Scieïice," which quickly came to le recoiinizinl as equal to the timehouorrd ►'Bachelor of Arts." The ■mportain point, howcvtT, is that scieutifie trainins was frmn the heginning eoTdially admittcd tn iull folio w.-l.lp in the university. Tliat thi.s ,viis the cast' is duc largely to the wNdom and forosie-lvt of that truly great edticator, Dr. Henry r. Tappan, the first president. The spirit oí liberality evinced in 1852 by the establishment oí the wi.'ntific fovirsi' has nianiïested itself in many ways duriiiir tlie years which followed. It was accepted as a principie that whenever a deraand for a pecultar kind of eduoatlon showed itwelf the demand Bhoaild be met. a principie whlcb led to the establishment of the decre of "Bachelor of Ph'ils'Ophy" for those havlng no opportunity to prepare in Greek, and of the degree of -'Bachelor of Letters" for thoe wlio preferred modorn to ancient langiiages. The degree of ■■Bachelor oi Science" also has been differentiatied to allow of specialization in the varimis branches of science; vso tlvat at present this degree m:ay be taken with epecific mention on the diploma Hhowinc; whether the student has speeialized in civil engineering, mining engineering, mechanica 1 engineering, electrical engineering, chemfotry, or biology. It is by no means certain that the policy which reoognizes differentiation in eourses of (study by different degrees is the i-orrect one; thE facts are not here brouglit to notïee for the purpose of i-all'.ns attentin to the pedagogical questi'Oin involved, but to show how th university, following its avowed policy of intrusting the direction of [te development to the choice oí the people, ha succeedd ta providing for the many and vai#ed needs of its foni-tituency. The educational system is complicated lecause of the compk-xity of the civiliza tion it serves. The application of the policy just nientfoned is further ob-served if we not.ice the departments of instructlioo offered in the university. All tlie deigrees above referred to are conferred by the faculty of the Dopartmeiit oí Latera ture, Seience and the Arts. But beeides these, appropriate courses are offered in the Departmient oí Síedfcine, whlch was öpened in 18Ó0; in the Department o' Liw, which was oponed in 1859; in the Departmeiit of Pharmaey, which was tiabílehed In 1868; in the Homoepathiie Departinvent, which was establi.shexl in 1875; and in the Department oí Dental Surgery, whicli was stabLiishied in 1875. These several departments taken together make up tlie Uaiiversity cf Mk-hiffan. All depart mcnts o!f the uniVerslty are domiciled on the same campus; tlius the uníH-ei-sity exists in reality, niKl not merely in á catalogue or in an aiiiKMncenïent. Thiils being the ca6, it is gratifylpg to the {rienda oí liberal eduí-atioo to notice the steady gravrth of the Literary Departmriit, Sor !t Khows, oontrary to the feíars oí tjie tilmid, that the presence of i)i-ofesionnl bcIiooIb ís not detrimental tío academie training; on the ctmtr&ry, a close examraiation of the question diwlooes the fact that the projdmïty of tlie varloue departmente iis mutuially ndvantageous. Tlie old liimee which eeparated culture from adüeoee and profeseiorajl learninff from tilieni both are tast lxing effaced. Instrui.tlon in lib:'rnl arts conforms more and more to BCientlfic requirements; Kntruction in the science cannot regard the clailms either of truc culturo or of professional needs; wliile niini'-tion in the professional schools 5-i brougbt to an unueually high standard by its contact with the arts and ijCiencerV. And all this is accomplishé3 through the un -oncious coerción of the stujtfent IkmI.v, whose membors tn Ingle freoly with each other. It ík the ü'atural consequence of the org-aaitóftion of the university rather tlnun tin' reeult of foresight on the part O'f tdiose wlio have admi'nixtered it. ïhere is nt yet, perhaps, that complete formnl i-nterchange of courteeies between the varioiis departments winlich the Ideal unlversity demande, but tlie ttecesstty for this is lecomiinsf more and more apparcnt to the ffoverai'Qg body, and its accomplislimeiit w-ifll doubt leas be the next important step tii the development of the inistitution. The university spirit existe, and it cannot be long before that spirit fittde adequate formal exlin'ssions. Tlie general principie underlying the eleetitve eywtem was reeioguized by the uni'ver.sity in 1852, wflien seientifie studies wiei-e accorded equal rank with cXaseical studies; but the policy was not formally promulgated until 1878, when the requirt-ment of four ycars' rrsidenet' for irraduatton was ttboaHshed, md ia lts place was snbtitutcd the requtremnt that a certa in number ; eourees should be tornpleted, eaeh sluilciu beüïig tree bo Dieet such eoursee as seeaned to hitn most prahtaftle. The adoption oí tlie electvc s.vsi rui marks the begtanlng of a new era for the university, since by means oí Bpccializatlon on the part of bo-fch instructor and student has boen ênoouraged, and a wonderfully r. h a-nd varled oouree of instruction iieen the result. In the Departmcnt.-i of Diterature, Science, and the Arts, there were in 1878 one hundred and foriy-tliree cour.ses offered, as against tour humlred and i,u'hty courses 'm 1S92. It is not a matter oí .■],, -idont that the muntoer of students in the Literary Department increaeed chiring this period fro four hundred ;;n:l ïorty-one to thirteen hundred an dtndtty, nor in the university as a whiole iromthirteon hundred and to tiventy-six hundred aad nlnety-two. The inïluence of this liberality oí -elections upon the coursee oi study may be the most vividly sliown by Indica,tlng its results in a single department of instructioxi. In 1887 political economy inlg-ht claim the attention of stndents for two hours a week thröugfiöut tile yoar. The anno-n'jement for the next academie yeiar shows four instructors in politieal economy alone, and a snfficient number of courses to furnish work for a student who should elëct therai 11 with five hours a week for two full years. Tbiañ in addition to the purely uudergraduato courses, wliich imlude the study oí elementary principies, of the history of indnwtrial '-oz-iety, an da curosy exainination of certain practical problems, intermedíate and gradúate courses are givem foverini; the wliole range of economie, financia!, and social discussion. TMs is buit typieal of what lias occurred in other departments of imstruction. It is fair to refer to i't as a legitimatie result of the electPe systeni and of the spirit of liberality on which the elective system rostís. Theo-e ar? maoy other features of the ■unilver.sity as worthy of mtntiikra as ttiose whlch find place in ttoils article, trat they all point in tlui same d'5re"tio!n: they all show the wisdom of edueation under the directüoin of the state. It is eommonly argiied algailnst this systeim. by those who base theïr reasoninf? on the philOi-djiliy of individualista, tlvat jrovernmental Oontrol must Minder free develo'pment iln met.liod)s of instniction. Tlie bilstioi-y of the l'niversity of Michigan does not support this argument. On the contrary, the conclusión at wliich ome must arrive who rearïs its liü-;tioirjr is that an orsyanic connection between the state and education is deckTedly advanta.üreoais to educatlilon. One thing at leaist is certain: an ed'ncat-innal system which is a part of state machii'nery, provided the state be deocratilc in form, can never come to mea.n the education of a classs, nor can a uniiiversitjwfcteb appeal? top the people for pecuniairy support become a center f rom whft-h aristocratie ideáis or a plutocratilc industrial philosophy are dissominnted. itate edaication must be dem'Oieratiilc in the hiffhest sense of ttoat word. for Fta 'jontlimed existtenoe depends upon its b?ing in harmiony wfitih the ideal of the people and upon the (juickness wtth whieh it resrvonds to public needs. Lookïitg at tflw past, tlwre is every reason for the imlulgenee of a conffident bope respwtinsr the future of tlve rversity of Michigan, and it s perttaps a want of faith not varranted by the past wliíeh causes the frü'Tids of th? university to reprard some solicitmle the last Btep whfch it has taken In ifes purpose to beconre an ideal university. The state has sirown perfect willinprness to support wit.h überality a system of instruetion whioh attracts larse numher oí pupil. Will she be equally willina: to support a technienl, Bpecializcd edueation of -n-hioh compnratively few mny avail themselvps? Tli is is the question Whlch confronts the university. Or. put in another way, will the state encouraw researcTi and investipration? If answered affirmatiwly, there is mo assiprnable limit to the possible development of state universities; if negatively, state universitïes have liad their diiy. The prese-nt situation is nothitap: less than a crisis in the life of popular education. Tlie faculty of the T'aiK-ersity of Micliijran. recognlring fiilly the seriouKiiiptss of the RMuation. have decidel to put tl question to the test by éertabllBhlng a prr.Tduate school. The phrase ils perhaps an unfortunate one, and, m my opinión, can not maïntain itseli; lint the important thdtng is that the step has been taken and that teeltnlcal, special, and lui'Kh-Krade professiomal studies have been provided for. By thi step Michiiran agaln becomee the standard líoarer of popular education, knowtap: well that if state universities can not furniwh what is best in every partiCTilar, their influence as distinctivO ajíg-re-sBive forcea in American life will be lost. It ís not, therefore, merely a matter of prilde which has induced those -lio control the polity of the univeretty to enter as competitors in the fiield öf the hlghest cduoatio.n, blthough, as custodjans of a oessful part, such a pride nügfot be justiiivil: it is ratlwr becatise of fcheiï belief in the prhwlple of public ftducation, because they leel the spirit whX-h oont-rolB a sí ate Instltutlon cannot be nan-ow or uBsympat-hette ;uul eepecJIaUy because they know that a gradúate school eupported by the poople will read upan fcheir Ilfe and chiaracter. ThSli is the explauation of tbat entliusiw.sin and loyalty which Ss 90 marked a íeatmv of the Tnivrrsi'ty of Michigan. It U the grerand tor conffiaeaoe thia-t this last step ■wiai be au oompletely sratjeessful as nll previou'-; Btepe Which mark the cour-r its growth tram an idoa to a.n i'n-i ii ut ii in eaaily peOonizecl as worthy a plaïe omoii.ï the bent ol jii-i'at ?awtituttoiis oí loariiinK whivh til country BupportB.

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Old News
Ann Arbor Courier