Rhodes Scholar

“ The Rhodes Scholarships.—The scholarship system founded by the will of Cecil Rhodes provides in perpetuity for the support at Oxford, for a term of three years each, of about 175 selected scholars. Each scholar from the colonies and the United States has an allowance of £300 per annum during the continuance of his scholarship; those from Germany, as being nearer to Oxford, an allowance of £250 each. ”

“ There is, however, danger in choosing too mature a man. He may be so advanced in his studies or so old in his habits as to find Oxford unprofitable or uncongenial. He may be so deeply interested in his definite line of work, or ‘take himself so seriously’, as not to ‘mix’ well. He may be so set in his ways as to be unadaptable to Oxford ways. There is such a thing as too much self-reliance. The Rhodes Scholar should have ‘independence of character’ and should have ‘principles’, but he should not assert an aggressive individuality. ”

“ B.A. therefore represents much more than mere routine undergraduate work. The work for the degree of Bachelor in Letters, Science, or Law may be fairly described as the equivalent of ‘post-graduate’ work. Thorough research, a dissertation or a special course of advanced study, followed in the case of the degree in Law by a very difficult examination, written and viva voce, are required, and a very high standard is set. One of the first ideas of which a Rhodes Scholar [71] must disabuse himself is that the path to an Oxford Honour degree is smooth and easy. ”

“ Yet Rhodes Scholars were once advertised as ‘all athletes’, and there has been disappointment in some quarters because they are not ‘all athletes’. There are degrees of athleticism. One may be athletic without being an athlete. And it has happened that one may be a Rhodes Scholar without being particularly athletic. However, ‘fondness for manly outdoor sports’ is above all a characteristic of Oxford men. ‘Exercise’ is a part of Oxford life. The athlete has great advantages in the Oxford system. ”

“ Although in some ways not of so much consequence to students from abroad as to Englishmen, yet in others it is even more desirable that the foreign student be satisfied with his College environment. An English student, no matter what his College, will probably have a number of friends and old ‘school-fellows’ in other Colleges. A student from abroad, an American for instance, will be more limited to chance acquaintances among the students outside his own College. Moreover, to the Rhodes Scholar Oxford becomes in a sense ‘home’ during his three years. ”

“ Amusing stories were current at this time about the Rhodes Scholars. One young don told me that an American scholar had replied, when asked what was his religion, "Well, sir, I can best describe myself as a quasi-Christian scientist."—"Do you think," the don asked me, "he meant the word 'quasi' to apply to 'Christian' or to 'scientist'?" Another young American drifted into Keble, but never attended chapel—a circumstance unheard-of in that exclusively Anglican preserve. ”

“ Under the present arrangement a Rhodes Scholar, when appointed, is to send to Mr. Wylie, along with his credentials (see p. 42) , a list containing the names of several (five or six) Colleges in the order of his choice. ”

“ Rhodes’s health was never good; he was first driven from England at the age of seventeen by physical breakdown, and when he started for South Africa the second time he was given but six months to live. All through his life the fear of death weighed heavily on him, and, with the fatalistic superstition which modified his unbelief, he fancied that he was only safe when Jameson was within reach. Moreover, Jameson was a man of education, and Rhodes almost reached the ludicrous in his reverence for “a scholar and a gentleman.” ”

“ Application for leave to compete under these conditions must be made to the Trustees directly or through the Director of Education for Rhodesia. Other things being equal, preference will be given to candidates educated in Rhodesia.
The United States of America.
An elected scholar shall have reached, before going into residence, at the least the end of his sophomore or second-year work at some recognized degree-granting University or College of the United States. ”

“ The two questions which most vexed the Rhodes Scholars and the College and University authorities in that year were that of ‘standing’ and that of ‘choosing a course’, and these questions, while being simplified and made easier of settlement, will remain as problems which will confront the majority of foreign students who enter Oxford, especially Americans. [26]
In October, 1905, 67 more Rhodes Scholars arrived, followed in October, 1906, by 28 more, there being for 1906 no appointments in the United States. In the interval eighteen have ‘gone down’ [27] and two have died. ”

“ It stands pre-eminently for culture and good breeding, for a liberal education in the widest and best sense, not merely the knowledge that comes from books, but especially and above all for the knowledge of men and affairs. It is the difference between a training to make a living and a training to make a life, to put the best into life rather than to make the most out of it. The highest Oxford ideal is the scholar and the gentleman, but the gentleman first of all. A faithful reflex of English society, Oxford reflects its most marked characteristic conservatism. ”

“ F. J. Wylie, The Rhodes Trust, Oxford, the name of the elected Scholar, and should forward to the latter all the records, credentials, and testimonials relating to the Scholar on which the election was made. These papers should be transmitted immediately, as they are used in consulting College authorities in regard to the admission of Scholars. It has been the experience of the past two years that Scholars have frequently been unable to gain admission to any of the Colleges of their preference owing to remissness in forwarding to Mr. Wylie the necessary information. ”

“ A Scholar is an undergraduate who, as the result of examination, is entitled to a grant of so much (generally £80) per annum by the College. This amount is subtracted from his ‘battels’, not paid directly to him. Scholarships are given for two years, renewable for a further two years, without further examination. A Commoner is one who is not entitled to such a grant from a College.
[29] The arrangements for appointments in the Colonies, other than South Africa, and in the United States had not yet been completed. ”

“ Election to a Rhodes Scholarship does not of itself admit to a College. [42] Every College has its own standard for admission, for Rhodes Scholars as for all other applicants, and accepts or rejects at its own discretion. Moreover, the number of Rhodes Scholars which any one College will admit is strictly limited. Few Colleges will admit more than five in any one year; and in the majority of cases four is the maximum. From the different candidates for admission a College will select those whose records suggest that they are most likely to do credit to the College to which they may belong. ”

“ Seven other members who shall be chosen annually by ballot by the Council of Higher Education.
SOUTH AFRICA.
Under the provisions of the Will of Mr. Rhodes the four schools to which Scholarships are assigned in Cape Colony have the right of electing the Scholar. This is done under special regulations approved by the Trustees for each school. Information about the regulations may be obtained from the school authorities. Education at the school itself is in each case a condition of eligibility.
Natal.
His Excellency the Governor in his private capacity (Chairman) . ”

“ Every third year the selection of the Rhodes Scholars will be made from the candidates who have lived in Jamaica for the whole of the seven years preceding the date of examination. In case of such candidate having been off the island for the benefit of his health during this period, the Committee of Selection may decide, if they think fit, that this does not interfere with his eligibility. (Candidates who have attended a Colonial University affiliated to Oxford are exempted from Responsions if they fulfil the conditions of the Statute.) ”

“ At present all Candidates for Rhodes Scholarships in the United States are required to pass this examination, though it is probable that a similar exemption will soon be granted to students of Privileged American Universities. All Rhodes Scholars are accepted by Oxford Colleges and by the University without further test, the qualifying examination for the Scholarship being accepted by the University of Oxford as the equivalent of ‘Responsions’, the first University examination. ”

“ Students of Affiliated Colonial Universities or Colleges, who satisfy the conditions for advanced standing prescribed by the particular Oxford Statute for their respective Universities or Colleges, are excused from the qualifying examination held by the Rhodes Trust for the Rhodes Scholarships. ”

“ Rhodes Scholars who have taken their Bachelor’s degree at some Colonial or American University will generally be able to avail themselves of this latter regulation. All candidates for these degrees in Letters or Science—and this applies also to those reading for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (see p. 93) —should be sure to provide themselves with the necessary credentials. ”

“ Negotiations with the University and with the Colleges found all the Colleges willing to accept Rhodes Scholars, although their requirements varied somewhat. The Trustees found it advisable to require that only men who showed ability to pass Responsions [17] should be eligible.
Entrance to an Oxford College is not as simple a matter as entering most Colleges or Universities in the United States, Germany, the British Colonies or even other Universities in the United Kingdom. ”

“ Once every year “Founder’s Day” will be celebrated at Oxford; and not at Oxford only, but wherever on the broad world’s surface half-a-dozen old “Rhodes scholars” come together they will celebrate the great ideal of Cecil Rhodes—the first of modern statesmen to grasp the sublime conception of the essential unity of the race. Thirty years hereafter there will be between two and three thousand men in the prime of life scattered all over the world, each one of whom will have had impressed upon his mind in the most susceptible period of his life the dream of the Founder. ”

“ Candidates shall have passed their eighteenth birthday, upper limit (25) remaining the same. No candidate shall be eligible for election who has been at a University for more than three years. No person who has taken advantage of a Queensland Exhibition shall be eligible for selection unless he consent to resign the Queensland Exhibition on election to a Rhodes Scholarship. ”

“ LIST OF RHODES SCHOLARS See also chart on p. 29.
[127]
Dr. Parkin’s Report of November, 1906, [87] showed Distribution among the colleges (of Scholars then in residence) :—
One each from Balliol, Hertford, and Pembroke have since gone down.
Distribution according to course, &c. Those who are reading in the Honour Schools for the B.A. degree are as follows:—
In courses more specialized or advanced than those for the B.A. degree there are reading:—
For further Statistics concerning Rhodes Scholars, see Chap. ”

“ The Universities, hating to be reformed, and allowing the misuse of their resources by undergraduates, sometimes described by Rhodes scholars as “British babes,” have been unable to do their part for the nation. They have stood aside from elementary education, only coldly tolerating the establishment of training colleges in their neighbourhood, and only timidly following a few of their members when they have led the way in the extension of University teaching. ”

“ Special advanced courses, extending over a year or two, are offered in Education, Geography, Public Health, Economics, Anthropology, Mining and Engineering, and Forestry, for which a certificate or diploma, but no degree, is granted. We are [67] concerned here only with those degrees which are possible to the Rhodes Scholars. As has already been stated, all candidates for an Oxford Bachelor’s degree (except the degree in Music) must satisfy certain requirements of residence and scholarship. ”

“ The degrees of Bachelor in Medicine and B.D. are open only to those who have taken the Oxford degree of B.A., and are therefore out of the question for Rhodes Scholars who intend to reside only three years. The degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Music can be obtained without residence. ”

“ Rhodes’s first requirement was that regard should be paid to ‘literary and scholastic attainments’. However, to this qualification he gives, in his scheme of units, but three points in ten. He desired neither ‘bookworms’ nor ‘grinds’; but men with the broad interests of the student, which lie not alone in intense study of books, but in a wide humanity and true culture. Rhodes preferred men who, with fixed habits of work and high scholastic ambitions, at the same [107] time are alive to the importance of guarding ‘lest our culture separate us from humanity’ ”

“ Rhodes first announced to me his intention to found scholarships. It is interesting to compare the first draft of his intentions with the final form in which it was given in his will of 1899 and its codicil of 1900. He told me that when he was on the Red Sea in 1893 a thought suddenly struck him that it would be a good thing to create a number of scholarships tenable at a residential English University, that should be open to the various British Colonies. He proposed to found twelve scholarships every year, each tenable for three years, of the value of £250 a year, to be held at Oxford. ”