COLLEGES 67 COLLEGES not the only purpose. The preparation for business, for engineering, for jour- nalism, for farming, has, however, in re- cent years become an aim not unusual. The studies which are pursued on en- tering the four years' course are easily divided into the old humanities, the new humanities, and the sciences. The old humanities were primarily Latin and Greek. These have in recent decades, es- pecially Greek, become largely eliminated for modern linguistic studies. French or Spanish have been substituted. For- merly German held a large place. The new humanities include the English lan- guage and literature, history, economics, political science, sociology, philosophy, and psychology. The rise of the sciences in the last 70 years has been constantly reflected in the college curriculum. They have now assumed an important place as educational instruments. The chief sub- jects in this field studied in addition to mathematics are physics, chemistry, biol- ogy, and geology. The principle on which these studies, in part prescribed and in part elective, are arranged for the student are, first, to promote the power of thinking, and, secondly, to develop the character of the individual. In the interpretation of the purposes of the higher education such phrases as "Education is self-unfolding," "Education seeks to train leaders in de- mocracy," "Education endeavors to form the character as well as to discipline the mind," "Education is aimed to secure rational living," "Education is to help one to enjoy one's self," "Education is a preventive of evil and a promotion of the good," "Education is designed to develop the individual and to incorporate this in- dividual into the whole community," "Education is a process of laying up cap- ital, both intellectual and ethical," are constantly used. In addition to the scholastic feature of the college and the university, is found a very vital undergraduate life. This life is composed of manifold associations. First among them is the system of fra- ternities — brotherhoods, organized for so- cial purposes — not a few of which are intercollegiate. Houses, either owned or leased, are the homes of these organiza- tions. Next to them the highest place is occupied by athletic sports, including football, baseball, basketball, hockey, ten- nis, and many other sports. Dramatic associations, musical societies, debating clubs, literary organizations, civic clubs, Young Men's Christian Associations, and Young Women's Christian Associations, daily and weekly papers, monthly maga- aines, parKamentary associations, repre- sent happy and, in many relations, prof- itable forms of undergraduate activity. American Colleges. — The history of American colleges may be divided into three periods — the colonial college, the old American college, and the new Amer- ican college. The colonial college ended with the American Revolution; the new American college begins about the year 1870 and is still in process of evolution. Before the Revolutionary War there had been a continuous development of higher education in the colonies for 150 years. The point of beginning was the institutional life already familiar in the home beyond the seas. Harvard College, established by a bequest from John Har- vard in 1638, was a combination of an English public school and Emmanuel Col- lege. It was founded as the "schoole and colledge at Newton." Yale in 1701 was founded as a "collegiate schoole," and Dartmouth grew out of Dr. Wheelock's School for the Indians. Altogether 11 institutions of higher learning were founded before the Revolution. These were all very poor. Yale's annual budg- et after 25 years of labor was 315 pounds, no part of which sum came from endowment. After a century and a half of history Harvard's total funds were less than 17,000 pounds. William and Mary was the richest of our early col- leges. Its main building was a hand- some brick edifice, 136 feet in length, whose architect was Sir Christopher Wren. The avowed purpose of these earliest colleges was the training of leaders for the Christian ministry. One-half the graduates of Harvard for the first 100 years entered the ministry. After the Revolutionary War the field of their edu- cational service altered materially. Their task was to train leaders, not for the church alone, but for a new state, for a commercial life beginning to express it- self in new callings, for a period of pio- neer development sweeping across the continent. The old colleges were strengthened and a number of new ones founded. The States began to assume a direct responsibility in this work. The University of North Carolina was char- tered in 1795, Vermont in 1800, Georgia in 1801, and South Carolina in 1805. Still progress was slow. Dexter esti- mates that in 1800 all existing colleges in the country had less than 2,000 stu- dents, hardlv more than 100 professors, and $1,000,000 worth of property. During the period now under discus- sion all American colleges developed along similar lines. The course of study was rigidly prescribed, based on Latin and Greek as fundamentals, to which
