Survey of 'New' College Plans

A LERT leaders in higher education have for some time advocated re-evaluation and renovation of the program of the liberal-arts college. As a result, there are some interesting developments in the so-called progressive colleges. Even the more conservative leaders have at least mended their fences. A review of programs and procedures in higher institutions today, therefore, presents many degrees of newness from complete overhauling to minor repairs. Almost anyone interested in higher education knows something about "new" college plans such as those of the University of Chicago, Antioch, Bennington, and others. While these are undoubtedly among the most significant college plans, it is surprising to learn the extent to which other less publicized institutions are experimenting with curriculums and methods. To discover these more obscure college experiments, a large number of college catalogues were studied to obtain information concerning interesting programs. This survey has not attempted to be all inclusive, and it is possible that a firsthand study of many programs would reveal many inconsistencies between print and practice. There is no unanimity about aims and purposes among these schools. One group of large public-supported institutions is defending and encouraging mass education through the establishment of two-year junior or general colleges. This is in line with the suggestion of a famous college president who has said that in these days of serious unemployment facing our youth, about the only alternatives to education are idleness, prison, or the navy. Many private colleges, on the other hand, are making their student bodies more selective and defending the principle of a mental aristocracy as a fundamental need in a democracy. A few colleges are stressing a new emphasis on the cultures and ideas of the past, while many others are increasingly planning programs that shall grow out of current needs and problems of young people in contemporary life. Some institutions are emphasizing more prescription of courses, whereas, at the other extreme, efforts are made increasingly to encourage student initiative, self-direction, and self-education. To a student of higher education this may suggest the predicament of Stephen Leacock's horseman. Before attempting to start off in all directions at once it might be well to consider a few trends. There is, first of all, the tendency toward the extension and refinement