A Plea For The Rehabilitation Of Baccalaureate Degrees

The following article taken from tlie New York Mail and Express, will find an "amen" response in ncarly all circles of education : In algebraic parlanee, the cxpressions a b represent defiuite, known quantities, but we know no expressiou more variable, more unrcliable, or representius a quanlityso utterly unknowu as the combinntlon A. Ii. as applicd to graduatcs of American colleges. Tiie litle in itself conveys no definite idea; its valuc dependa entirely upon its source. If the degree carne from Princeton, or Michi Iran, or Yale, it is a guaranty to the pub lic Mint the bearer is a libcrally educaled man of considerable mental attainment. If, howerer, the bachelor refera to Washoe College or the University of the Wild West as the source of liis title, the announcemeut is received with a smile ot inappreciation. The A. B. or maD.v of onr hiah-sounding universities would not qualify its owner to enter the sophomore clasj of many anothercollege whose highest honor WM Mie saine dejjree. This fluctuating and uncertain value of the bachelor's degree, as well as the reckless habit of distribnting lionorary dcgr.'es at every coinniencemenl, has nnde the wholc subject of American degrees a byword and a bttalng ninong European scholars and in European .universities- properly EO calk-d. We have vulg.rl.ed what should be titles of distinction. We have rendered Ihem al most meanlnglcss. "The principal cause ot' all tliis is pluin. It lies in the greiit number and the irre?ponslbility of American educational institutlons; their entire independence of each other, and tlicir utter lack of conformity to any fixed i-tandard of mental culture. The state of Ohio has more collega autborlxed to oonfer the bachelor's degree than the whole of Europe. In Europe, Inwever, academie dejriijs are so strictly guarded, tlie number of univeisitieë authorized to grant them so narrowly limit jd, and the examinutions fordcgrees so rigoroua and so uniform, that a title obtaiucd there bas in itself a nicaning and a vulue which the same degrefl ncver confers here. We are thlrty-elght Mvireign, practically independent fctutrs. Any stütes muy, on any condiüoi.s it pleoier, charter an unlimited number of universilics, each (luly nipowered to go Nhead and gradúate men on their own tUndard of HtUlnmeot, and recfive the -uur li(ular desigiiation. TUF. REMBDY. The acknowlcdged cause 8Ujrgests the Olllj remedy. The only way to tiike elf llie discount from American ilegroeí is lo limit the Dumber of InstliiiMoni whlch eau confer them. A vciy i-w of the olde3t and best colleges tbould iiloic bave this power, and CliOM should be luid to riftid vlaltatlon nnd siiict uocountfiblllty. Many plant haTe been derlwd lo bccompliali this retult. Prof. Bryoe, in n majiazliie :irtic!u wmey4ard ago upon ihe ilpal uiiivpi-.-ity, proposed that a grciit Ameiicin univiTsiiy sliould be establiDlied, whicli alone should have the power I o CMifer degres. Dr. Banuird, üf ('oliiinliin, once sugtrested that in this state that power ahotdd exchiíively devolve upon tlie l'nivcisity of the state of New York, coiistating of that worthy body of liiirchoads, the Regent, pAMewli'g a cliartor and a ehaocallor, bat no faculty, tudenU or pvopcrly. Dr. .MtC'osh, In liis Inaugural addren twenty years ijjo, :i(lvi-ed tliat the college! of each state pool their prerogatlves as to granting llegreel and Itllitu to forra a jfreat state university which should tliat fuuctlon. Any of these schemes wonld tend to centraliza the degree-confcrring power and reinier it easier of regulation and control. THE dartmiu Til COLLE6B DEC1SI0Ï. It may be too late to remedy the evll by legiglatlon. 1 'mier the dacfaion of the United Simes Súpleme ('oiirt in the celebrated Dartmoutü College case, which Daniel Webster wnuiK from a uostile bench in favor of his alma mater by the ¦heel furce of his tremendotn oratory, on on a law point suiigcsted by a parson, and which Webster hiniself regarded as a forlorn hope, it is doubtiul if the Legislature of any state coulil successfully revoke froni a college it had chartered any privilege granted in Us charter. That decisión was to the effect tliat a college charter was a contract witliin the rasaning of tli e Onstitution of the United Stutes, and that state legislation which Impalred the obllfratlon of sueb a contract was nuil and void. It is questionable If thU la good law to-day, but it is certaln tl) :tt any atteuipt to cut down by legislativo enactment the powerg once vested in H chartered iustitution would meet witli forcible resistance. How, then, is relief to come f We believe it could be attained, not by the atteuopted revociitioii of charter powers, bilt by mutual arrangement and concession. A convention of the college presidenta of the United States sliould be called, and frankly discus Ibis growing evil. TIn y perhaps could agreeonjthe followlngplan: They niight select, aud the Legislature of each state thercupon desiguale, two existlnsr colleges in each state which alone should retain the power of conferring the baccalaureate degree. A blgh standard of exiunination should be prescribed by this body, which should be uniform all over the country, and equal to or higher than the present graduating Standard of the best colleges in the land. This would give a uniform test of proticioncy, and should be rigidly maintained. 'ï'o these two baccaluurenttt co! leges the students from all the other institutions in the state would come to be examined for thelr bachelor's degree. The man from Cornell or Harvard would pas?, while the man from Washoe College would (all. Th is schemc would not only tend to restore the value and distinction of the degree of Bachelor of Arts, but would steadily tend to raise the standard of the colleges whose diploma failed to entitle its holder to a degree. The eximinations should be open to both sexe?. The sanie colleges should be authorized to award the degree of A. M. after ihree yeai's subseqnetit training in a liberal profeuion, upo n an ad vaneed, prescribed and uniform exaniination, thus giving to the niastei's degree also a value and dignity at present unknown to it. Thii method would not necessarily affect the prestige or prosperity of any college which niigbt retijn its privilege of coiiferring degrecs. Their studenU would still receive th-ir diplomas, whicli would pass current for just what they WCn WOrth, and its holders would not receive the decoration of A. 15. unless preparation liad been suftlcieiit toeatn it. The unccrtaiii and variable value of the deslgnation would dUappsar, and it would be elevatcd to the grade of merit which the same desigoation repreeents in the Kuropean uuiversitics. It would then mean, as it does uot always now, that the bachelor of arts had received sucli thorough discipline, and had ttcqalred such proflciency in the study of the classics, ilteratare, hi.-tory, science, arts, lanKuage, rbstorlc, mathematies and puilosophy as properly to entitle hun to a standing among educated meu of any nation in the world. The Fenton Independent man tillcd the stockings of all poor chlldren whose name, age aod adreaa was sent him last Monday. I Ie' J 1 get to hcaven alright.