Syllabus

“ To further the work of my students in the lecture-room, I published an interleaved syllabus of each course, and was, I think, the first person in our country who ever did this in connection with historical lectures. It is a matter of wonder to me that so few professors in these days resort to this simple means of strengthening their instruction. It ought to be required by university statutes. It seems to me indispensable to anything like thorough work. ”

“ When no satisfactory text can be had, the only thing that an instructor can do—formal lectures to immature students being out of the question—is to construct a syllabus or to procure a good one made by some one else. This outline is necessary to give proportion, connection and organization to the course. By making his own syllabus an instructor can secure proper attention to the points that he thinks should be emphasized, and he has in his outline a definite plan of the work to be done, something that many of the texts do not offer. ”

“ Note-taking should never be allowed in junior classes; a syllabus may in some cases be profitably supplied, or the lesson may be an amplification of a text-book which the pupils have read, or questions may be set calculated to bring out the main points of the lesson. ”

“ The syllabus is subject to alteration to meet the needs of the class. Each lecture will be illustrated by specimens, [153] demonstration, blackboard diagrams, etc. Several outings and daylight demonstrations will be arranged during the session. ”

“ In the faculty of Grammar—the Cinderella of the faculties, which apparently did not of necessity involve any previous academical training—the Master was presented with a palmer and a rod. In Arts a cap was placed on his head, and in the higher faculties the Master or Doctor was installed in a chair and received the hat, together with the book, the ring, and the kiss of peace—the three last, perhaps, in theology alone.
Inception properly signified the commencement of an active career as a teacher ”

“ He who prosecutes his studies conscientiously, and so acquires a conviction of the importance of the vocation of the Scholar, but yet does not feel within himself a clear consciousness of the capacity to fulfil it, shows that he recognises its sacred character by not undertaking it;—he who does undertake it, manifests the same conviction by exercising it worthily. In the next lecture we shall speak of the true Author; to-day we shall discourse of the upright Teacher of future Scholars. ”

“ The object of the division into classes is instruction. Whenever it is desirable that several individuals should pursue a particular study, a list of their names is made out, a book selected, a time for recitation assigned, a teacher appointed, and the exercises begin. In this way a large number of classes have been formed, and the wishes of parents or the opinion of the Principal, and in many cases that of the pupil, determines how many and what shall be assigned to each individual. ”

“ What, then, are the faculties which education is supposed to train? In my attempt to answer this question I will confine myself to the elementary school,—the only school which I can pretend to know well. A glance at the time-table of an ordinary elementary school might suggest to us that there were two chief groups of faculties to be trained—those which perceive and those which express, those which take in and those which give out. When such subjects as History, Geography, or Science are being taught, the child's perceptive faculties are being trained. ”

“ One after another shall repeat the whole lecture, so that each of them may know it well, and the less advanced shall be bound daily to repeat the lectures to the more proficient." A later code of the same College provides that "All who study humane letters shall, on every day of the schools read in the morning a composition, that is a speech in Latin, Greek or the vernacular, to their master, being prepared to expound the writer or historian who is being read in daily lecture in their schools. ”

“ But in every case, and unconditionally, he must fill the Student with respect and veneration for the proper calling of the Scholar. The first object of all study,—to lay hold of the Idea from a new and peculiar point of view, is by no means to be given up either by the Student himself, or by the Teacher on his behalf ”

“ If a conscientious course of study at a University secured no other advantage than that of presenting to youth a picture of the dignified calling of the Scholar as a model for life, and of repelling from this sphere those who are not endowed with the requisite power, such a course would, on account of this advantage alone, be of the utmost importance to the Student. ”

“ Making inquiries of professors and students, I found that the young man, both at school and at the university, was, as a rule, at the head of every class he had entered; and therefore it was that, when the examination papers came in at the close of the term, I first took up his papers to see how he had stood the test. They proved to be masterly. There were excellent scholars in the senior class, but not one had done so well as this young sophomore; in fact, I doubt whether I could have passed a better examination on my own lectures. ”

“ In any graded course of study the pupils are expected to earn promotion from grade to grade by attaining a certain required average in their work. In the Junior Course the Pupil’s Book for Work and Study is, as the name implies, both a guide in study, and a means of fixing in mind the knowledge which has been gained. To meet the requirements of this book the pupil must do the daily Bible readings, learn the memory text or texts each week, do whatever reading is required, and learn the hymns that are printed in the book. ”

“ Stand. To stand out for College, verb. phr. (Westminster) .—To enter for a King’s scholarship. Candidates must be under fifteen years of age, and have been in the school as a town boy for not less than a year preceding.
1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 182. Then if he thinks proper he “STANDS OUT FOR COLLEGE”—or, in the old Latin phraseology, becomes one of the minores candidati. He undergoes a very severe examination, called the “Challenge” [q.v.] , the form of which must have been preserved from Queen Elizabeth’s days, and is the last surviving relic of the old scholastic disputations ”

“ In my first term I spread myself through the common school, the business, the college preparatory, the collegiate, and the theological divisions of the University! It was akin to taking an academic ride in five carriages at once! When the professor dismissed me from [82] the college class in logic I went immediately into the basement, where I joined the grammar class, and from the grammar class I went to the theological department and recited on Church History. ”

“ The instructions of the college are conveyed in part by lectures, but principally by the study of the most approved text books, aided by the explanations of the professors. The diligence of the student is tested by rigid daily examinations. The character of each recitation is recorded, and the results communicated to parents or guardians in the middle or at the end of each term. At the end of each term, public examinations of the classes are held by the faculty; and the students are classed in the order of merit. ”

“ In every word uttered by the Academic Teacher in the exercise of his calling, let it be Knowledge that speaks,—let it be his longings to extend her dominion,—let it be his deep love for his hearers, not as his hearers, but as the future ministers of Knowledge:—Knowledge, and these living desires to extend her dominion, let these speak, not the Teacher. ”

“ The Academic Teacher, of whom chiefly we have to speak, ought to train the Student who has been made acquainted with the nature and dignity of his calling, to the capacity of receiving the Idea, and to the power of developing it anew, and giving it a form peculiar to himself:—he should do all this if he can. ”

“ That half of the circle to the right of the heavy line represents the forces of the school; the half to the left, the forces that come into play outside the teacher’s domain. In school are the various studies taught; reading, writing, language, nature, geography, history, arithmetic. Other things such as morals, manners, hygiene, etc., come in for their share of force in the division “Miscellaneous.” Out of school the child’s work influences him; his playmates affect him more ”

“ And if I discover for the Scholar a vocation most honourable, most lofty, and distinguished above that of all other classes of men, how is it possible for me to lay it before you without exceeding the limits of modest expression, without seeming to undervalue other vocations, without being apparently blinded by self-conceit? ”

“ Let there also be one member of the collegiate body, who shall be a grammarian, and must entirely devote himself to the study of grammar; let him have the care of the students in grammar, and to him also let the more advanced have recourse without a blush, when doubts arise in their faculty. . . There is to be one person in every chamber, where Scholars are resident, of more mature age than the others, who is to make his report of their morals and advancement in learning to the Warden. ”

“ High schools (Realschulen, Realgymnasien, Progymnasien and Gymnasien) . All high school teachers, except those engaged in technical departments, must first absolve the nine years' gymnasial course, which commences at the close of the third school year. Next comes the university course of three or four years. The candidate is now ready for the State examination. The subjects for this State examination ... are divided into four classes: 1. The ancient languages and German; 2. Mathematics and natural sciences; 3. History and geography; 4. Religion and Hebrew. ”

“ The scholars prepare their lessons when they please. They are expected to be present and prepared at the time of recitation, but they make the preparation when it is most convenient. The more methodical and systematic of the young ladies, mark the times of study as well as of recitation upon their schedules, so that the employment of their whole time at school is regulated by a systematic plan. You will observe too, that by this plan of having a great many classes reciting through the first three hours of the morning, every pupil can be employed as much or as little as her parents please. ”

“ Now, for the first time, when we have to accompany the Student from the Academy into Life, we must call to mind that the studies and character of the Progressive Scholar are not necessarily completed with his residence at the University ”

“ LECTURE. A discourse read, as the derivation of the word implies, by a professor to his pupils; more generally, it is applied to every species of instruction communicated vivâ voce. —Brande.
In American colleges, lectures form a part of the collegiate instruction, especially during the last two years, in the latter part of which, in some colleges, they divide the time nearly equally with recitations.
2. A rehearsal of a lesson.—Eng. Univ.
Of this word, De Quincey says: "But what is the meaning of a lecture in Oxford and elsewhere? ”

“ The Student who is penetrated with deep respect for the holiness of the Scholar's vocation, will be guided by that respect in his choice of a civil profession; and, particularly, in the province of learning, if he do not feel a profound conviction of his ability to fulfil its highest duties, he will choose a subordinate occupation, restrained from assumption by his reverence for the dignity of Knowledge. ”

“ The subjects taught in the high schools were Canon and Civil Law, Medicine, and Theology. These faculties, important for the professional education of the public, formed the staple of the academical curriculum. Chairs of Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Astronomy were added according to occasion, the last sometimes including the study of judicial astrology. If we inquire how the humanists or professors of classic literature were related to the universities, we find that, at first at any rate, they always occupied a second rank. ”

“ Niebuhr e.g. read, word for word, from his manuscript, and what a teacher was he!—The catechetical way of teaching is not demanded at the university except in special examinations; it belongs to the private work of the student, who must learn to be industrious of his own free impulse. The private tutor can best conduct reviews.—The institution which presupposing the lecture-system combines in itself original production with criticism, and the connected exposition with the conversation, is the seminary. ”

“ All lecturers, Masters as well as Scholars, of the same Faculty, whenever and wherever they happen to be reading any book in regular order or course in the same Faculty, or to be discussing a question according to this or any other method of exposition, shall follow the former method of reading to the best of their ability, to wit: presenting it as though no one were writing it in their presence. It is in accordance with this method that discourses and recommendations are made in the University, and it is followed by Lecturers in the rest of the Faculties. ”

“ It is quite possible that a Scholar who has devoted his life to a particular department of knowledge may entertain a prepossession in favour of that department and be apt to esteem it above all others,—either because he has accustomed himself to it, or because he thinks that his more distinguished calling may reflect some of its lustre upon himself. ”

“ The Faculty of the Normal School have the right of visiting the apprentices while at work, and of giving advice and suggestion. When the six months are over, the teacher of the school makes a report on the work of the student. ”

“ No person should be admitted to this class who is not willing to give some time during the week to the study of the course. While the rest of the school may be studying the regular lessons, whether graded or uniform, this class should be at work with the teacher-training text-books. There should be thorough instruction with examinations looking toward a certificate of work done, such as the International Teacher-training diploma. ”