Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

Page 25 text:

Swarthmore College. its origin, and some notes upon its early history. By Edward H. Magill. CHAPTER in. T the opening of the fifth year of the College, in the autumn of 1873, four of the six members of the first graduating class re- turned as resident graduates. Of these, L. Maria C. Pierce, A. B., was appointed Assistant Instructor in German and in English Branches; Elizabeth C. Miller, A. B., Assistant Instructor in French and in English Branches, and Esther T. Moore, A. B., Assistant Instructor in Mathematics; while Helen Magill, A. B., pursued her studies toward a second degree. The Faculty of seven continued the same as the previous year. The whole number of officers of government and instruction now reached 26, and the whole number of students 269, of whom 93 were members of the college classes, the rest being members of the Preparatory school. It will be observed that there continued to be a steady increase in the number of college students in proportion to those in the Preparatory school. The development of the college proper, until it could take full rank with its sister colleges much longer established, continued to be kept steadily in view. To this end the pursuit of one of the three regular courses of study now provided, the classical, the scientific, and the engineering course, was constantly encouraged, with a result that about 87 per cent, of the college students were following one of these three courses, the rest, through various causes, being classed as irregular. The views of the Man- agers upon this subject are thus expressed in their report for this year : It II

Page 24 text:

Swarthmore College, SWARTHMORE, Pa. INCORPORATED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 1864. First Class Graduated 1873. COLOR— Garnet. Cheer: ' Rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah! Swarthmore ! 10

Page 26 text:

will be observed that nearly all of the students are pursuing one of the regular courses provided, and this is desirable ; both for the interests of the College, and of the individual students, who almost invariably make more satisfactory progress when pursuing a regular course, even for a short time, without any idea of graduation, than when they select all their studies for themselves. Of course the Elective is so far combined with the Regular system that the Electives increase as the students advance in their course, and in the Junior and Senior classes the studies are largely elective. Upon the same principle, the Electives are very few in the Preparatory school, and students in that school are expected to pursue the regular work of the classes in which they are placed, . . . It is a serious error to suppose that the pursuit of a select course is adapted to immature minds that espe- cially need the advantages of systematic training in a well-arranged course of study. The increasing number of students, and the limited capacity of the College turned the attention of the Managers at this time toward the erec- tion of separate homes for the professors upon the College grounds. But some time elapsed before taking a step in this direction by erecting a house near the west end of the College for the President and his family. The way has not even yet seemed open to taking further steps, although to some minds it still seems feasible, and exceedingly desirable. The satisfactory experience of Cornell University in this respect would seem to be an exam- ple well worthy of imitation. During this fifth year, the first after the College had reached the period of graduating its first class, irregularities of discipline and of management, almost necessarily attendant upon the founding of a new institution, began to disappear, upon which point the Managers say in their report for this year : While the intellectual training of the students has been a subject of anx- ious care, and their physical well-being secured by regular and appropriate exercise, their moral and spiritual welfare has been sedulously guarded, and, as a tangible result, the discipline of the institution was never in a more satisfactory condition. The students are daily learning the great lesson that those are best governed who are taught to be a law unto themselves. 12