GRADUATE INSTRUCTION IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Graduate instruction under the direction of the academic faculty is one of the manifestations of educational energy which followed the election of Doctor Tucker to the Presidency. It may be regarded as formally established by a vote of the Trustees, dated May 3, 1893, which provided for certain scholarships "with a view to the encouragement of students, and particularly for the promotion of graduate study". The following year, 1893-1894, courses leading to the Master's degree were instituted, and four resident graduate students were enrolled. The organization was completed the next year by the appointment from the faculty of a Committee on Graduate Instruction to have general supervision of the work. This arrangement, which is the usual one in institutions having no separate graduate school, is still in operation.

In the twenty-year period from 1896, when the first degrees were conferred, to Commencement 1915, one hundred candidates received the degree of Master of Arts, and ten that of Master of Science. Of the total number five were women. To avoid possible misunderstanding as to the significance of the two degrees it should be stated that Bachelors of Arts generally take that of Master of Arts, even though their work lies in scientific subjects, while Bachelors of Science may also, if they pursue certain subjects, receive A.M. for their advanced work.

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy has been given only exceptionally, four times in all. Although Dartmouth has wisely refrained from fostering work here for that degree, there are three College fellowships open to graduates for advanced study elsewhere. These, with our share of the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford, and the increasing recognition which the holders of our Bachelor's degree are finding in the graduate schools of other institutions, afford preliminary encouragement to those who are preparing themselves for college teaching. At the suggestion of President Nichols means are now being considered for bringing these opportunities more forcibly before the undergraduates.

The College has hitherto made little or no effort to increase the number of men doing advanced work here; it has rather taken the attitude of affording facilities, as far as it was able, in response to a demand. As a rule we have had as many students as a faculty called upon to make provision for yearly increasing numbers of undergraduates could properly care for. In many cases they act as department assistants while doing advanced work, sometimes remaining for two years, and thus gain an insight into practical teaching and educational organization which is of immediate value. For the educational life of the College the presence of graduate students is a direct advantage. Like the men in the affiliated schools they set an example of serious work with a definite object in view, which not only exercises a general influence among the undergraduates, but also turns the attention of some to advanced work who would otherwise not contemplate it. Not to be underestimated is also the reaction on those members of the teaching staff who give the graduate courses and are thus afforded the stimulus of a kind and quality of work which lies beyond the scope of the undergraduate curriculum.

Of the men who have received advanced degrees; here, twenty-six, or nearly one-fourth, were alumni of other institutions. This group, consisting chiefly of members of the teaching profession, is a most desirable addition to the Dartmouth fellowship.

The Summer Session offers an opportunity, also open to women, for those who wish to study for the Master's degree without interrupting their ordinary vocation. Attendance at four Summer Sessions is reckoned as the equivalent of the year of residence required of other candidates. A large number also take courses of graduate grade without having a degree in view. A valuable connection is thus established between the College and superintendents, principals and teachers. A considerable extension of graduate work in the Summer Session may be expected according to plans now under consideration.

Another demand for graduate courses comes from a few men of exceptional ability, who have finished the requirements for the Bachelor's degree at the end of the first semester of their senior year and desire to pursue advanced work during the second semester.

The work of graduate instruction has proceeded quietly but steadily, with little to call public attention to what was being done. Last year: the Committee on Graduate Instruction deemed it desirable to ascertain what the results of the policy inaugurated in 1893 had been, as far as this could be measured by the occupational or professional career and success of the holders of advanced degrees. The material was collected by means of a questionnaire sent out by the Secretary of the College and issued in the form of a statistical report covering the period 1896-1914 inclusive. The occupations of the 103 men then living who had received advanced degrees (M.A., M.S., Ph.D.) was as follows:

College Professor 27 Instructor 8 —35 Secondary School Superintendent 5 Principal 7 Teacher 20 —32 Ministry 5 Medicine 7 Law 4 Government Service 5 Technical 4 Business 6 Students 5

Among the 99 Masters seventeen have subsequently received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at other institutions, and nineteen have degrees in Theology, Medicine, Law, etc., to their credit. From the facts brought out by the inquiry it would seem to be shown beyond doubt that the College is performing a valuable educational service through the graduate instruction which it offers. The year's study for the Master's degree in the College proper may be considered as corresponding to the second year in the Thayer School and the Tuck School and thus rounds out the curriculum of the whole institution.

At present there are eight candidates for the Master's degree in the College, and seven, of whom two are women, in the Summer Session. No doubt further development and organization of graduate instruction, with especial reference to those entering the teaching profession, might be advantageously undertaken, when the resources of the College permit.

Professor Ashley Kingsley Hardy '94, Chairman FacultyCommittee on Graduate Instruction