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cy examination according to the university rule. The regulation is:

"Delinquent examinations and examinations held by special permission of the dean are special examinations, the fee of each of which is $5, which must be paid by the student before being admitted to the examination."

If a student were so unfortunate as to register the grade of "D" in two courses each year, although that is not a flat failure, like "F," he would lose a point, or $5 worth, for that, and another $5 for his make-up examination. In other words, he stands to lose $40 in four years.

In discussing the new system the Spectator says: "It would be going little farther to barter and purchase degrees. For example, a man will pay under the new scheme $150 for a fifteenhour course; should he get high marks he will gain a 'point' or more without paying for it, and it is this that is to be regretted. Forcing the student to pay $5 for every 'D' in excess of one is, we think, a forced measure. All

these measures place an unfortunate commercial atmosphere on academic work, and we hope that the trustees will reconsider them at their next meeting."

Fraternities in High

Schools Under
Discussion

A sub-committee of the Springfield (Mass.) School Board has been hearing both sides of the secret society quesquestion as related to the public schools. The question was brought before them by a petition for the exclusion of the fraternities from the technical high technical high school. That there was deep public interest in the matter was proved by the large attendance at the hearing. The arguments against these secret fraternities, summed up, were that they are undemocratic in developing in a public institution supported by all for the benefit of all, distinctions and differences based upon no considerations related to the school and its work; that they establish special and exclusive groupings which tend to narrow the pupil's associations with his fellows at a period when they

should be kept as large as possible; that they involve expense and thus unnecessarily raise a distinction between the children of the poor and the others; that they go to lug into the nursery of our American democracy those more or less meretricious social differences which obtain quite strongly enough as it is outside of the schools; and that these groupings must and do become, under the veil of secrecy, centers of influence distracting to the students and subversive of the school authority—little feudal powers which operate invisibly to weaken the central authority and sometimes. openly dispute its proper exercise.

These views were presented in a hearing where only the lower schools were concerned. Do the same objections apply with equal or even greater force to the existence of secret fraternities in the universities?

A writer in a Cincinnati paper says:

"In addition to the curb being held on undue athletics, high school authorities are turning their attention to secret societies organized among the pupils, who make selections of certain of the classes with rejection of others, tending to form an aristocracy among pupils at an age when school matters ought to be first in importance. So great has the evil grown in the high schools of Chicago, and so rigidly drawn are the lines between societies and between members and nonmembers of societies, that the governing board now requires of each high school matriculant subscription to the following pledge:

"I hereby declare that I am not a member of any fraternity, sorority or other secret society, and that I am not pledged to any such society. I hereby promise, without any mental reservation, that so long as I shall be a member of the university high school I will not join. any secret society; that I will have no connection with any secret society, nor be present at the meeting of any secret society in this school or elsewhere. I also declare that I regard myself bound to keep these promises and on no account to violate them.'

"Commenting on the requirement of the pledge, the Boston Herald says: "The

general reasons that make against them as factors in school life are sufficient. The little benefit they may sometimes confer on a few individuals, under favorable conditions, can not weigh against the evils which teachers perceive and deplore.' Time enough when the high school pupil leaves that institution and enters the college or the university for affiliation with societies. The age of the high school pupil forbids the exercise of right judgment and his membership in school secret societies tends to the development of clannishess and classes where neither ought to exist."

At a recent meeting of the Board of Regents at the University of Wisconsin. one of the members Democracy in Colis reported to have said:

lege Fraternities.

"I am going to make a thorough investigation of fraternities and sororities at Wisconsin and other universities, and, if the facts warrant it, at a future meeting a resolution to restrict these organizations will be introduced. It seems to me that they are undemocratic in the highest degree. They form a caste among the students that is inexcusable. They are expensive to the parents. There may be something 'to say about the benefits of these organizations, and if there is the advocates of the system will be given ample time to have a hearing. But my present impressions are not at all favorable. The proposed dormitory system, when carried into effect, will do away with the major reason given for their existence."

Following the order of the faculty that hereafter tickets for the junior "prom" shall be sold for $3 instead of $6, the proposal of an investigation may be looked upon as a movement in the direction of simplicity in college social life, and, as such, deserving of commendation.

The University of Wisconsin is supported by the state, and tuition for residents of Wisconsin is free, a circumstance which gives the Regents excuse for more minute supervision of the social activities of students than is gener

ally exercised in Eastern schools of higher learning. So far, however, as the remarks of the official referred to may be construed as an attack upon the whole institution of college secret fraternities, they will meet with strong and, we think, deserved opposition from the great body of college graduates. Apparently the old bugaboo of secrecy does not enter into his objections to fraternities. It is too well understood, even by non-fraternity men, that their mysteries are innocent concessions to the romantic predilections of youth. As to the important counts of the indictment, we are not prepared to say that some chapters. of some fraternities are not too exclusive and may not fairly be charged with extravagance. If such conditions exist at Madison, by all means let the offending chapters be "restricted," if by that is meant a fatherly talking to by their alumni in the faculty or in the general body of graduates, and if such remonstrances are vain, let them be dissolved by faculty order. But there is too much of good in the way of honest, helpful, brotherly effort among the members of these societies, which, far from being undemocratic in essence, appeal to the natural instincts for organization of the American boy (so much so in some institutions that nearly every student is a member of some fraternity-and where, then, is your "exclusiveness"?) to warrant any educational authorities to "restricting" them out of existence.

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cereal and also suitable animals to assist man. We blame the people of Australia for their savagery, but what could they do in a desert country, assisted only by the kangaroo?"

Professor Haddon urged the Geographical Society of Chicago to devote its energies to the subject of ethnology, which he claimed was the most important branch of scientific research for the present generation on account of the fact that the barbarian races were rapidly disappearing beneath the baneful influence of the white peoples.

"We spend our time and energy," said the professor, "in searching for the north pole and delving thousands of feet into the sea, all of which could be done just as well 500 or 1,000 years hence, while we are neglecting the work which can only be done now. What will posterity say of us? What answer will there be when they ask why we did not do this work so important to the understanding of the history of the human race?"

"The enthusiast should be encouraged and protected," said Professor Haddon, "for he is the man who will do the work of the world, asking for no pay. One man is specially fitted for the making of money, but the enthusiast in science can not do this and the means should be provided for him to do this all-important work."

al of College Aid.

President Eliot's widely discussed plan for limiting the bestowal of college aid for indigent stuLimiting the Bestowdents, so that the trust fund at the disposal of the college may be given only to applicants likely to live long enough to give an adequate return, is bitterly attacked in some quarters. "As if, forsooth," one critic says, "it were merely a matter of preference with the physically weak whether they shall resign this pleasing, anxious. being, or continue to haunt the warm precincts of the cheerful day! Moreover, is it not known to be often true that genius, no less than conceit, 'in weakest bodies strongest works,' and that the sustaining power of a lofty in

tellectual or moral purpose will uphold the frail tenement long after its downfall has been predicted by the physician? Had Immanuel Kant, the poor saddler's son, been debarred by his physical frailty from receiving the pecuniary aid he must have received in order to get an education, should we now have any 'Critique of Pure Reason,' and what would modern philosophy be like ?"

This critic misses the mark. It is not proposed that scholarships shall be awarded for physical fitness. It is only reasoned that, intellectual equipment being equal, a healthy student is a more desirable candidate than a weakling, for he is likely to enjoy longer and fuller use of the benefits of university education, to be a stronger influence in the world. And what are scholarships for, if not to help in the freeing of strong souls? As to students of extraordinary ability, they can always obtain needed assistance, from college authorities or philanthropic persons. No Kant who lets his needs be known will be deprived of necessary aid by any plan for disbursing scholarship funds.

Greek and Latin in American Schools and Colleges.

The changes that have so profoundly affected the ideals and tendencies of modern life within the last fifty years have had a marked effect upon the aims and methods of professional teachers in educational institutions of every grade. President Eliot, of Harvard, referring to this fact, declares that the changes in the requirements for admission and for graduation made by so many colleges within a comparatively recent past have been. for the most part brought about by changes in our national life and thought beyond the control of college or university. Prof. Norton, also of Harvard, taking this view, in a lengthy communication published in a recent issue of the New York Nation, says: "In the long run those institutions, as well as the secondary school, must adapt themselves to new conditions if they would survive. It

is not merely ridiculous, but impossible, to uphold a scheme of education which no longer commands the respect of the public."

The principle thus announced, that even the higher education takes shape in the democratic world, is noteworthy. The changes that have been made may be ascribed to a growing sense of the importance of physical science and to an impression that the old course of study was of comparatively little practical value. It was contended that education was a failure if it did not prepare the student to take an active and effective part in the world's necessary work. That view became popular in Europe as well as in the United States. In their newspapers and magazines, in public addresses and even at college commencements, the people of Great Britain are constantly reminded that it is the practical character of German education that has made Germany so formidable a commercial rival of their country, and they are thus admonished that unless their schools and colleges devote less time to Latin and Greek and more to chemistry and physics they are destined to lose their lead among the trading nations of Europe. The other day Lord Strathcona told the patrons and governors of the old University of Aberdeen that the American institutions of higher learning enjoyed a special advantage in the fact that they were not tied to the past by the venerable traditions of a system of education that had not been devised in anticipation of the most urgent demands. of the present day.

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was made to extend the buildings of Marischal College, one of the two colleges of the university, in order that science may be more adequately taught.

Through the efforts of such men as Lord Strathcona, who is rector at present, and of the Mitchells of Newcastleon-Tyne, aided by public subscriptions, a very handsome addition has been made to the buildings and on Sept. 27 these were opened by King Edward, with whom was the queen. For the visit of the king the Aberdonians spent in decorations from their public funds something like £10,000 ($50,000) and every house along a three-mile royal route was decorated. Nothing like it has ever been seen before in the history of the town. The academic functions were of a most interesting nature, taken part in, as they were, by representatives from the universities of America, Europe, Africa and Asia, "gallant little Japan" sending the professor of botany at Tokyo to represent it on the occasion.

Among the delegates from America were Prof. Hale, Chicago; Prof. White, Brown: Prof. Damon and Dr. Kellen, Pennsylvania; Dr. Hague, Columbia; Prof. Hull, Cornell; Profs. Lanman and Lowell, Harvard; Prof. Kelly, Leland Stanford, Jr.; Professor Anderson, Johns Hopkins University; Prof. Cushny, Michigan; Vice-Chancellor McKelway, New York State; Dr. Carnegie, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia; Prof. Daniels, Princeton; Prof. Merrill, Trinity, Hartford; President Buckham, Vermont; Prof. Kent, Virginia; Dr. Clarke, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and Prof. Lounsbury, Yale.

Canada was represented by Principal Petersen, Prof. Walton and Dr. Shirres, Montreal; Prof. Macgregor, Halifax; Chancellor Sir S. Fleming and Prof. Macnaughton, Kingston; Wilfred Campbell of the Royal society, Ottawa; Prof. Macallum, Toronto, and Prof. Parker, Winnipeg.

Among those on whom honorary degrees were conferred were Prof. Melville Best, California: Frank Wigglesworth Clark, chief chemist United States

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It is different in Europe, where woman has had hoary prejudice and feudal influences to fight and overcome. There the higher education of women is still among the unsettled questions, and policy and practice are not uniform even in the same countries. Nevertheless, woman has made steady progress, has refuted all of the early objections to her intellectual advancement and has successfully stormed educational citadels.

A leading German paper recently published interesting figures, complete as far as they go, in regard to women who enter the universities of the fatherland and become candidates for degrees. Last summer there were 211 women students in the German universities, as compared with 140 during the winter semester. Of these 108 studied medicine, 66 philosophy, 22 mathematics, 10 economic science and 4 law. In the universities that admit women only as "hospitanten," that is, irregular students without right to degrees, there were last summer 1,268 such students, as compared with 1,050 a year ago.

In the universities of Switzerland, always liberal and generous, there were during the summer 2,193 women, as against but 500 a decade ago. The great increase is largely due to the inpour of Russian women, who have been hampered in every way by their own reac

tionary government. Indeed, 75 per cent of the women students in the Swiss universities are of Russian birth. They intend to return to and practice in their native country, "if things improve," but many of them are lost to Russia.

However, the Russian ministry, among other reforms granted or promised, has raised the status and extended the academic opportunities of the women. They are now allowed to attend all the lectures in the St. Petersburg University and in the Polytechnic Institute. Other concessions have been made, and if the universities remain open-which is very doubtful, it would seem, owing to the tyranny of the police and the revolutionary attitude of the students, and also of some of the professors-the women are certain to make full and excellent use of their new privileges.

There are clever but superficial writers in Europe who say that women have "done nothing with their higher education." They forget that after one acquires an education he or she needs opportunity to apply it. The prejudice against women physicians or lawyers or teachers is still so strong in Europe, especially in Germany, that if women have made no mark it is the men who are responsible. It is the men's higher education that has failed, if it has not cured them of absurd prejudices and baseless notions.

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