George E. Fellows, University of Maine. The delegates organized with the choice of President MacLean as president, and Professor Ames as secretary Professor Andrew F. West of Princeton University delivered an address recently on "The Tu The Tutorial System torial System in Colin Colleges. leges." Prof e ssor West, who is dean at Princeton, took for his example the installation and success of a tutorial system at his own college last year. He first gave the reasons why such a system is needed in the modern large college, where the classes are large, and it is almost impossible to give individual instruction. He spoke of numerous instances where men were either held back or were lost in the advance of the others, for need of separate instruction. He then proceeded with a detailed account of the installation at Princeton, and said, in part: "In such a system, a large instructing force was needed, and to pay this force the first call was for money. Two million and a half dollars was the conservative estimate for such a system, and a committee was appointed to raise this money from the alumni. This was a large sum of money to raise, and it was a hard task to educate the alumni that such an expenditure for the invisible needs of education meant more to the university than did the visible things. such as gates and athletic fields. They, however, responded nobly, and the sum is nearly raised. "After securing the means, the next task that confronted the governing body of the University was the selection of the preceptors. The task was doubly hard. The men selected had to be men of university training, of good morals, and above all have a faculty of interesting the students in their work. With these qualifications the field was necessarily limited, and to add to this, the pay was so small that the men that were selected had to be single. After canvassing the whole country for men with these qualifications, the number was selected. "The preceptor system that was to be installed was not one of individual instruction such as is the case at Oxford. Nor was it to be à system of coaching or tutoring a man for his final examinations. The method in use at Oxford is an exceedingly good thing, but the American student has not been educated up to this sort of thing. The way in which the system was installed was to divide a class such as that of first year, into groups of twenty-five. These groups would receive class instruction in a body, and were rated according to their scholastic standing and intelligence. The brightest were placed in the top group, and were thus divided off down to the hopeless dullard in the lowest division. These groups were in turn subdivided into smaller groups of four or five. These groups were also apportioned off according to the intelligence of the members. It is an evident thing that the preceptorial system does the dullard the most good, and with this method of apportionment, the man that needed it could receive the help. "After the division, it was easily arranged to have each small group of men receive preceptorial attention one hour a week on each subject. After the system was working in good order it was an easy matter to sort out the men and place them just where they belonged. "The method of instructing was not to coach these men on their various subjects, but to re-enforce the regular class instruction with such advice and help as each individual needed. No two blocks of men received the same instruction. The men were interested in their work in more than a casual way, being given hints and talks by their preceptors on what and how to study. "The students regarded this innovation with an amusing curiosity and turned out in large numbers to see the rejuvenated faculty. At first they were a little shy of the preceptor, but soon realized the benefit it was to them. It was not long before they took up the work under the new system with enthusiasm, and their conduct toward their preceptor is now becoming part of the college tradition. The students are not forced to come under preceptorial supervision, but if a man does not satisfy his preceptor, he will not be allowed to take the final examinations. The trouble from this has been very slight, however, and the percentage of men that are not allowed to take their examinations is very small. "The results of the first year's trials. have been beyond the brightest hopes of the conceptors of the system. The student body as a whole is taking more interest in its work. Due to the emphasis laid on reading by the preceptors, the general library is giving out more books daily than ever before in the history of the institution. The conversation on the campus has changed. Matters of learning are now discussed, where before it was athletic affairs. The students are studying better than ever before because they have a real interest in their work. No longer are there roving bands of students on the campus in the evening, but quiet reigns, and lights are seen in the study windows. Princeton in this way. has secured the advantages of the smaller college in the big university." ican history and institutions at the University of Berlin, has begun his lectures on "The Constitution and Constitutional History of the United States." At the opening lecture there were present Emperor William, the Empress, Prince August Wilhelm, United States Ambassador Tower and Mrs. Tower, Dr. Studt, the minister of education, about fifty professors and some resident Americans, and about 400 students, who energetically cheered Professor Burgess and applauded every reference to President Roosevelt. At the opening of the proceedings Professor Burgess read a letter from President Roosevelt. A permanent American institute has been opened in a large apartment in one of the university buildings, set part for that purpose by the ministry of education, in which have been placed portraits of President Roosevelt, President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University and Professor Burgess. About 10,000 volumes of American history have been sent to the institute by Columbia University, and it is the intention of President Butler and the others associated with him to add yearly to the library and to adorn it with portraits of the successive American professors. Cornell University .04 Nebraska University .04 Michigan University .03 .03 Yale University Minnesota University Mass. Inst. Technology It is estimated that no less than 100,ooo young people in America are enrolled in the academic departments of our colleges and universities, while the professional departments will more than double this number. The chief growth of attendance has been in the Mississippi valley, Iowa leading, closely followed by The Transcript adds: "The one thing that prevents the early appearance of 'the largest American university' in the Mississippi valley is the lack of an institution big enough in scope and heartily enough welcomed as a whole to secure popular indorsement. The city in which this institution should be located is, of course, Chicago. The boys of the future are going to attend a college located in a city, just as they are now working in a city. Chicago ought to have that institution, and Chicago has the site, buildings and general equipment suitable for this university, but as long as the Rockefeller curse is upon it conscientious parents will hesitate to send their boys there. It may be that in the future that university will recover from this incubus. But until it does the west will not send its best men there, and Harvard will continue dominant.” Is the Seat of Learn- The difference between Iowa and Nebraska universities is easily explained. Nebraska university includes an agricultural department, with a heavy enrollment, while in Iowa that department constitutes a separate and to some extent rival institution. In the same manner the remarkable lead of Harvard over Yale and Princeton, which are consid- The Chicago Chronicle, in commentered about equal in size by the ordinary ing upon the gain of western institutions person, is explained. According to the east, says: "Eastenrollment table Harvard has 2,000 stuern newspapers do dents more than Yale, which has more Cover those in the than twice as many as Princeton. not seem altogether Really, however, the colleges of these pleased to learn from the college staschools are not very far apart in size.students is increasing more rapidly in Harvard college has about 2,800 students. Yale has 2,000 and Princeton about 1,400. The difference is in the other departments. Harvard has huge law and medical schools. Yale has a small medical department and a small law school, while Princeton is nothing but college, the theological seminary being a separate institution. In summarizing its statistics the Transcript points out that the one concrete fact of signal importance and interest to be deduced is that the eastern institutions are slowly losing ground, and that the Mississippi valley colleges are likely to become leaders. The mean rate of advance for the whole country is .048 per cent; for New England, including Harvard, Yale and Tech, and the seven smaller ones, is .040 per cent; while the rate for the eleven Mississippi valley institutions is .088 per cent. tistics of the country that the number of western institutions than in those of their own section, which not very many years ago was far in advance of other parts of the country in seats of learning. They find that at the opening of the present fall term every important western institution gained in numbers with the exception of Leland Stanford, which was unfavorably affected by the earthquake. Iowa University gained 18 per cent, while the highest gain in New England was 7 per cent and in the middle states Io per cent. Princeton lost I per cent. An eastern writer who has been looking into the matter finds the most rapid growth in the number of students in the Mississippi valley. It will be understood, of course, that the most of it is found in the upper Mississippi valley, for while educational progress has been made in the states of the southern Mis sissippi valley far greater progress has been made in the northern states. The reasons for the for the more rapid growth of higher institutions of learning in this part of the country are not far to seek. This whole region has grown from small beginnings fifty years ago to be populous and wealthy. Much the greater part of the country's gain in population and wealth has occurred here. Before the Civil War comparatively few of the people of this region were able to give their sons the benefit of a collegiate course. Those who were able preferred to send their sons to eastern institutions both because of their higher reputation and because the standard of scholarship was really higher there than in the west. Our home institutions were comparatively destitute of scientific apparatus, libraries, distinguished scholars in the different chairs, which were few in number, and in most of those things which are attractive to students. But the people were appreciative of education. There was a liberal sprinkling from New England and New York, and our immigrants from Europe, especially from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, who were numerous, were willing to make great sacrifices in order to give their children school advantages. They supported the common. schools zealously and it needed no truant officer to see that the children did not grow up in ignorance of the rudiments. The graduates of the early common schools were prosperous to the second and third generations and more appreciative of higher education than the early settlers were. They have become the legislators and they are more liberal with the state institutions than their predecessors were and they have made some of them rivals in equipment and attractiveness of the older colleges and universities of the eastern states. Thus we are giving our youth of both sexes an appetite for higher learning in the public schools. An increasing percentage of them are able to gratify their appetite and the most of them find home institutions sufficiently attractive. The gain on eastern establishments of learning is natural, therefore, and we may ex pect it to continue so long as this region continues to make more rapid progress in population and wealth. The eastern writer above referred to says he believes the University of Chicago will one day be the chief educational center of America, but that "as long as the Rockefeller curse is upon it conscientious parents will hesitate to send their boys there." For reasons above suggested this writer's belief in the great destiny of the Midway university is strongly supported. As for "the Rockefeller curse," the people seem disposed to take it philosophically. They seem to think that if Mr. Rockefeller is disposed to give a good many of his millions to the endowment of a great university they need not object to his putting them to so good a use, no matter what they think about the methods he may have employed in getting so much money. If there is any "curse" about it when will it be removed? Mr. Rockefeller's gifts will never be returned to him, one may safely say. They will remain as part of the permanent endowment. If they are tainted, how and when will the taint be removed? Not so very many people will borrow trouble about the answer to that question. Most people will accept the doctrine that the good use to which money is put sanctifies it, and if Mr. Rockefeller chooses to give ten or fifty millions more to the university they will be very well content. Smaller Colleges Becoming More Popular. It is reported that Dartmouth College. finds herself in an almost awkward position this fall. She has all at once grown beyond her power of assimilation. A freshman class of 340 men has just entered the institution-a far greater number than ever before-and the authorities are at their wits' ends to take care of them. The dormitories are filled to the brim, and the private houses of the village of Hanover are taxed to their utmost. Only last June President Tucker told. the alumni of the college's need for more dormitories, and declared that Dartmouth's growth was impeded because there were actually not residences enough to provide for new professors and instructors. Now comes this big class of 340, more than 400 per cent larger than those of only fifteen years ago, to further complicate the situation. Dartmouth's experience is being matched, in kind, all through the small colleges of the East. Every one of them is growing handsomely, and the sign is an excellent one. It shows that the college training is much more general than a generation or two ago, and that the value of the small college as a peculiarly powerful factor in the making of a man is more thoroughly recognized. These minor institutions are now almost without exception growing at a more rapid proportional rate than the larger institutions, and the day is not far distant when some of them will "catch up," not only in numbers but in all the other essentials that make a college strong. There is room enough and glory enough for them all. "Point" System of Tuition at Columbia. There is much interest in the preliminary announcement by Dean Van Amriuge of Columbia college concerning the tuition fee for 1907-8. Beginning next year, the trustees have decreed that the charge for tuition each half-year shall be $5 a "point," instead of the present annual fee of $150. In theory, the new plan will involve no greater cost to the students than the present method, inasmuch as the rate of $5 a "point" for the 120 points necessary for the A. B. degree will amount to the present charge of $600 for four years. The term "point" is applied to the credit received for the successful completion of half a year's work in a one-hour-a-week course. In some cases, it is said, the "point" system of charges will mean a much greater expense for the students. This will be true of the men who may complete the academic course in three years instead of four, something which has been done in the past for the sake of economy, as it was possible thereby to reduce the money cost of the A. B. degree from $600 to $450. When the new system goes into effect there will be nothing saved by doing the work in the shorter period. "The mark 'A' in any two courses (no course being counted twice) entitles the student to one point of extra credit, provided that he has not fallen below, the mark 'B' in any of the courses pursued by him during the half year," says the university catalogue. Further than that, "any student who is credited with 94 points (including all prescribed work) may receive one point extra of credit for each of two courses from among those offered by any single department as counting toward a higher degree (that is, higher than A. B.) provided the quality of his work in such course be tested by an essay for which a mark 'A' or 'B' is given in addition to the stated examinations. No student may receive more than one point of extra credit in one half year under the terms of this rule." Under this plan a student may get twelve extra credits in his college course for high standing solely and one extra point, or possibly two, in his final year under the second ruling. The university suggests the way to get twelve points as follows: "A student entering without advanced standing in any subject taking regular eighteen hours per week (in addition to physical education) and securing regularly two points of credit in each half year (i. e., four A's and two or more B's) can make 124 points in three years." That is to say, in three years he can gain twelve. points, or $60 worth. But there is another side to the shield. It comes from this rule: "In any half year not more than one course, whether prescribed or elective, in which the student is marked 'D' may be counted toward a degree. Of several courses in which he is marked 'D' he may choose one to be counted." That means that if a man has two 'D's' he must choose one course in which to take a flunk. That means that he loses a point, or $5 worth. Further than that, he has to pay $5 for deficien |