TIME VERSUS KNOWLEDGE.

TO fix a standard by which a man's knowledge may be gauged, as tea and coffee are measured out by the system of weights and measures; to classify two hundred men and say not only that this one knows more than another, but that he knows just so much more, is to claim that the human intellect is capable of making an infinitely fine distinction. It is no wonder therefore that those who arrange for us such matters as marks, degrees, etc., have called something to their aid which is perfectly definite. It is easy to say that this man has given so many hours to this subject while another has devoted to the same thing either half the time or twice the time. The question I want to ask is whether it follows as a logical conclusion that in the former case the second man has learned but half as much as the first, and, in the other case, twice as much?

Now whether the conclusion is logical or not, it is what the powers above us declare to the world to be the fact. Last year a man passed the examination for honors in history. His mark in all his historical courses had been above that required for honors, and they were about to be assigned him, when it was discovered that the number of hours taken up by his electives in history was one short of the required amount. He accordingly graduated without honors in history. No one denied that he knew enough to entitle him to the distinction, but that, they declared, was not the question.

Those of us whose ambition is restrained within a narrower compass, whose aspirations are confined merely to a degree, have the same difficulty about the extent of our knowledge and the length of time we have been acquiring it. Seniors, as a general rule, take four three-hour electives. They are obliged to take twelve hours, and this is ordinarily the most convenient division of the twelve. It often happens that one of the four courses has some particular interest which the others lack, or two may interest a man and the other two bore him; or he may search the list in vain for four courses all of which he is willing and able to take, and find perhaps three; settle upon them, then discover that every other course he wants conflicts with one of the three; - in all cases the result is the same. The twelve hours must be filled up or his degree is lost.

If this were a primary school, or the average age of the Seniors was five years instead of twenty-two, it would be unnecessary to say anything against the system. Perhaps one boy can learn the alphabet more quickly than another, but it is necessary to look after both to have them learn it at all. With Seniors the case is not precisely the same. Most of them are anxious and willing to learn, and the Faculty has unquestionably done much in the last few years to aid them. Some unnecessary restraints have been done away with and if others remain it ought not to be questioned that they will be removed when those who have it in their power to remove them become convinced that the restraints are unnecessary.

The trouble is to convince them. Let us look at a particular case. One of the most valuable courses given this year is History 6. The amount of work to be done in it corresponds exactly with its value. The instructor announced at the beginning of the term, that the amount of outside reading to be done was "simply enormous." Those who have taken the course have found already that he did not exaggerate the state of the case. The work corresponds to that of an historian collecting the materials for volumes upon which his fame is to rest. The man who has this course may have two others upon which he must do hard work; then, by the regulation of the Faculty, he must take something else to fill up his time! This is a regulation that seems to me unnecessary. I do not propose that Seniors should have three courses instead of four required of them. Some number must be prescribed, and perhaps, in most cases, four is none too many. But the regulation should be made elastic, so to speak. It should allow discrimination in particular cases, making a special regulation, if necessary, in each case. The Senior with four electives is required to have an average of fifty per cent on them all at the end of the year. This does not imply thorough work; and if any one desires to take up fewer things and do them more thoroughly, is there any rhyme or reason for denying his request?

When the time comes in which knowledge can be measured by its thoroughness; when men receive a degree because they know well something that is worth knowing, and higher honors are given to men who learn much in a short time than to those who are twice the time in acquiring the same thing; when the great principle that men are responsible to themselves and to no one else for their education is fully recognized, both by those who study and those who teach, - then, and not till then, Harvard will cease to be a high school or a college, and will become what it claims to be, a University.