Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/175

THE EDUCATIONAL PLAN 147 Again, I can find no words of praise too high for the main features of your scheme. It has my most hearty indorsement. One eminent teacher, after one or two questions of detail, said: But these are mere trifles in a plan marvellous for its completeness and admirable in all essential particulars. A western educator wrote: "Unique and revolutionary" by no means adequately represent the situation. You give a three years' course without lowering the standard, and provide for those who cannot keep up average work. You solve the prob- lem of non-resident work, and provide for that large class, especially in our great cities, who want a broader outlook or special training. In a word, you set forth the ideal "university" in the old and in the new meaning of that much abused word, "all knowledge for all men." In February, 1891, soon after Official Bulletin No. i had been sent out, President Eliot of Harvard was in Chicago to speak before the Chicago Harvard Association. An intelligent and appar- ently accurate reporter interviewed him in reference to President Harper and the new University. In answer to the question, "What is your opinion of the general regulations which have been adopted for the new University?" he was reported to have made the fol- lowing statement: I can heartily commend them. While Professor Harper's ideas are not altogether original and I do not understand that it is pretended that they are the scheme as a whole is new. While it might be very difficult to intro- duce and follow such a plan in any of the old universities, I am sure that the regulations will make the University of Chicago a great institution of learning, perhaps the greatest in the West. The plan for university extension work has been tried and has been the means of educating many persons at home Professor Harper also proposes to hold a summer term. That has been tried recently in Harvard, and in Yale I believe, and is a very good idea. The plan for the classification of courses, giving the professor and student an oppor- tunity to choose his own time for vacation, will probably prove perfectly feasible, although it is too much of an innovation to be easily adopted in the older colleges. The scheme is a good one in many other respects. It is interesting to note how unerringly the great educator picked out those features of the plan which distinguished the new institu- tion most broadly from other universities, and gave them generous commendation.