Stephens College - Stephensophia Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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R. A. KENT, Dean College of Liberal Arts, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois The junior college is a very natural result of the development of education in America. First, an elementary or grade education was thought to be the least that anyone should have, next it was a high school courseg now it is rapidly bc- ginning to be two years beyond high school. A few criticize the movement and try to stop it, but its importance to large numbers of people is too great to have its progress thus impaired. It is already an integral part of our national educational scheme, both public and private. It will certainly be improved upon but it cannot be over-thrown. Thc experiments now being carried on at Stephens College are outstanding in their significance. They represent one of the first attempts to apply scientific principles to :Actual procedure in the field of higher education. This fact in itself places them in the forefront of importance for those who wish to see higher edu- cation develop more nearly in conformity with sound educational principles, rather than merely to accept it in its purely traditional forms. The experiment in curriculum making it important for two main reasons. First, there has been little real desire and almost no opportunity to organize curricular niaterials in higher education on other than traditional lines. Antagonism to sa .- ' Vq- Page 23

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STRATTON D. BROOKS, President University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri The University of Missouri has a very vital interest in Stephens College, bc- causc of the fact that so many of its graduates attend the University. Quite apart from this however, we are also interested in the work of the college, and particu- larly in its participation in giving serious effort to determining the most recent suggestion in educational adniinistration-namely the combining of what is now the last two years of the high school with the iii-st two years of collcfe. I feel con- fident that Stephens College, during the next tive years will be able to contribute much of value to educational progress. - Page 22

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pedagogy in this connection is a by-word. Second, this experiment deals with a curriculum for women. Since we first admitted women into our colleges, we have not until very recently seriously asked the question: what is the best college train- ing for women? lVe have scarcely been willing to admit even the propriety of the question itself. For Stephens College to attempt to work out a defensible answer makcs the institution a pioneer in one of the most important aspects of higher edu- cation. The measurement and recording of the scholastic success of the students is another worthwhile experiment. It is not the first one, but it is a unique one. In many respects it is a decided improvement over other similar experiments. School marks are, and have been, a snare and a delusion to both faculty and students. To bc able to place them on a basis approaching the impersonal deserves no small commendation. The latest experiment, to combine the last two years of secondary schools with the two following it, is another step forward. The theory underlying it is ad- mittedly sound. Your school is perhaps the first to have the courage to put that theo1'y to a trial. It will be watched witl1 cordial interest by scores of persons throughout the country. You are making yourself a creditor to secondary progress in America. Not the least important to my mind is your experiment in the social adminis- tration of the school. Logically, by reason of your location, you should have some of the most perplexing problems that might face any girls school. Problems you doubtless have, but they do not baffle. Many a school boasts of its spirit. You do not boast of it, but you wield it in an unusually effective manner. Many schools have tried many kinds of government. The contribution which your school seems to be making is this: the strong, wholesome spirit and successful disposal of natural difiiculties of social administration have come as a development witl1 the other pro- gressive fcatures which you have. The progressive, experimental attitude seems to be enthusiastically and intelligently supported not only by your faculty, but by the student body as well. Page 24