COLLEGE
111
COLLEGE
between university and college proper has been largely
effaced, so that the college is a composite institution,
of a secondary and higher nature, giving instruction
which in Europe is given partly by the secondary
schools, partly by the iniiversities. The causes of this
and other changes are manifold. The nineteenth cen-
tury saw the extraordinary development of the "high
school", a term, which in the United States, means a
secondary' school with a four-year course between the
elementarj' (public) school and the college. In 1900,
there were over 6000 public and nearly 2000 private
schools of this grade with over 6.30,000 pupils, more
than one-half of these being female students. Part of
the work of these schools was fomierly done in the
college. The result of this separation and develop-
ment of the secondary schools was, first, an increase of
the age of applicants for college, and, secondly, higher
entrance requirements. In consequence of the in-
crease of age, many students now pass directly from
the high school to professional studies, a.s few profes-
sional schools 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 fotir to
three years (Johns Hopkins); others have kept the
four-year college course, but allow the students to de-
vote 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 exces- sive expansion of the college curriculum, the pressure of many new subjects for recognition, some of which pertain rather to professional schools. The advance in, and enthusiasm for, the natural sciences during the nineteenth centurj- effected changes in the schools 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 of mental or formal dis- cipline, well expressed in the term gymnasium for classical schools in Germany, has been vigorously as- sailed, but not disproved. At present the pendulum seems to swing away from the utilitarian views of Spencer and others, and the conviction gains ground that the classics, although they can no longer claim the educational monopoly, are after all a most valu- able means of liberal culture and the best preparation for professional studies. To meet the difficulty aris- ing 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 wi.se choice; many are tempted to choose subjects, not for their in- trinsic value, but because they are more easy or agree- able; they follow the paths of least resistance and avoid the harder studies of greater educational value. To avoid these evils a compromise has been invented in some colleges in the form of a tnodificd 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 col- lege only with many limitations and safeguards, and that certain valuable literary, or "culture" studies in the best sense of the term, should be obligatory. American educators of the highest repute have come to regard early specialization as a dangerous pedagog- ical error, and they maintain that the elective princi- ple has its proper place in the university. Another result of the encroachment of the university on the college is the disappearance of the old-fashioned teacher with a good general knowledge and practical skill as an educator ; his place is taken by the specialist. who more resembles the university professor, who lec- tures 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 important educational factor, namely, the per-
sonal influence of the teacher on the pupil. The
larger colleges are particularly ex|50sed to this danger;
in the smaller colleges there is more personal inter-
course 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 fer- mentation. The questions of the length of the college course, of the proper function of the college, of its re- lation to university work, of the elective system, of the relative value of classics and modern languages, natural and social sciences — all these are topics of general discussion and matters of vital importance, and, at the same time, questions beset with great diffi- culties. Hence it is not surprising to find prominent educators ranged on different sides, some advocating far-reaching changes, others, more conservative, warn- ing against hazardous experiments. Modern condi- tions undoubtedly demand changes in the college; it would be most desirable if the old literary curriculum and instruction in sciences and other new subjects could be combined into a harmonious system. The present tendency of the college seems to be to under- take too much in subjects and methods, instead of re- maining the culmination of secondary training, the final stage of general education.
Monographs on Education in the United Slates, ed. Nicholas Murray Butlkr. particularly West, The American College (.\lbany, 1890': Schwickerath. Jesuit Education (St. Louis, 1905), with sfierial reference to American college conditions, chapter x: Tlir Inlrllrclual Scope: xi: Prescribed Courses or Elrclive Studies-: xii: Classical Studies: Special Reports on Educational Subjects (London. 1902), IX-XI; Educational Re- view (.\cw York, Jan., 1901; May, 1902; Sept., 1906, etc.); articles in The Atlantic Monthly and in The Forum.
Robert Schwickerath.
College (in C.\non Law), a collection (Lat. colle-
gium) of persons imited together for a common object
so as to form one body. The members are conse-
quently said to be incorporated, or to form a cor-
poration. Colleges existed among the Romans and
Greeks from the earliest times. The Roman laws re-
quired at least three persons for constituting a
college. Legal incorporation was made, at least
in some cases, by decrees of the Senate, edicts of
the emperor, or by special laws. There were, how-
ever, general laws imder which colleges could be
formed by private persons, and if the authorities
judged that the members had conformed to the letter
and spirit of these laws, they had incontestable rights
as collegia Icgitima; if the requisites were not adhered
to they could be suppressed by administrative act.
The colleges could hold property in common and could
sue and be sued. In case of failure this common
property could be seized, but that of the individual
members was not liable to seiziu-e. The Roman col-
legium was never instituted as a corporation sole ; still,
when reduced to one member, that individual suc-
ceeded to all the rights of the corporation and could
employ its name (J. F. Keating, " Roman Legisla-
tion on Collegia and Sodalicia" in "The Agape", Lon-
don, 1901, p. 180 sqq.). Colleges were formed among
the ancient Romans for various purposes. Some of
these had a religious object, as the college of the Arval
Brothers, of the Augurs, etc. ; others were for admin-
istrative purposes, as of qusstors, tribunes of the
people; others again were trade imions or guilds, as
the colleges of bakers, carpenters. The early Roman
Christians are said to have sometimes held church
property during times of persecution under the title of
collegium. For the evidence of this, see H. Leclercq,
Manuel d'Arch^olog. Chr^t. (Paris, 1907, I, 261-66).
It is not admitted by Mgr. Duchesne, Hist. anc. de
I'Eglise (Paris 1906, I).
Canon Law. — Most of the prescriptions of the
