WHAT NEXT?1

On May 9, 1916, the following letter was sent to Presidents of Catholic Colleges:

The College Department of the Catholic Educational Association has been working during the past few years on the standardization of the Catholic College. At the meeting held in St. Paul, 1915, a number of requirements that were considered essential to the standard college were unanimously adopted by the College Department. The next point up for consideration, and one of consequence, is, Should we apply a sanction for the standard that we have adopted? and if so, how can we make this standard effective? Everyone realizes that the delicacy of this question is equaled only by its importance. Frequently there are requests from different organizations or institutions for a list of accredited Catholic colleges. It is presumed that the Association has such a list and these institutions would be willing to give full rating to schools included in that list. I think it is clear we cannot make out such a list unless we have a standard such as was adopted at our last meeting. It is likewise clear, I believe, that all our Catholic colleges have not attained the same level of efficiency, nor the same high standard, hence it would be hardly fair to include them all in one list. The question now arises, How should we proceed in formulating such a list?

We hope to discuss that question at the coming convention in Baltimore. For this reason, as the President of the College Department, I would like to urge you in the interest of Catholic Colleges to be present yourself at this meeting, or to have a representative present. If it is impossible for your self or a representative to attend the meeting, may we not hope that you will send, in writing, your opinion regarding the advisability of applying a sanction, and the method of this application?

With every good wish for the success of your work, and trusting you will find time to be with the College Department at its next convention, I am

Respectfully yours,

MATTHEW SCHUMACHER, C.S.C., President, College Department, C. E. A.

There has been a steady and encouraging growth in the solution of the big problems of the College Department of the

'Address by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Schumacher, C.S.C., President of the College Department of the C. E. A., at the opening meeting of the College Department.

C. E. A. There has been an earnestness and a devotion to the work that has carried us to desirable conclusions. No step was hastily taken, no resolution of moment ill-advised. The question of the number of units to be required for entrance to college was settled by declaring that the number of units. shall be sixteen (16). The number of semester hours for graduation was fixed at one hundred and twenty-eight (128). The conditions that standard college should meet were next carefully gone over and the minimum requirements for the standard college were adopted. We have then gone on record in reference to these important elements affecting the college; the question now arises, Have we completed our task? If not, what is next?

I think a little thought will make it clear that entrance requirements, semester-hours for graduation, the requisites of a standard college, are not complete entities in themselves; they are only preliminary to another step that will unify them and give them meaning. Shall we take that step, shall we give a sanction to our past labors, or are we content to make our efforts up to date merely a record in the printed proceedings with the obvious query attached to them, Why so far and not to the end? Can we logically, even if the reasons for going on were not so abundant, halt at the present stage in our work? Let me read you again a résumé of legislation adopted in reference to the standard college by the College Department at its meeting in St. Paul in 1915:

1. The Standard College should require sixteen units for entrance. (Adopted at the Chicago Convention, 1911.)

2. The Standard College should require one hundred and twenty-eight semester-hours as a minimum for graduation. (Adopted at the New Orleans Convention, 1913.)

3. The Standard College should have at least seven departments with seven professors giving their entire time to college work. The departments of English, History, Language and Philosophy should be represented among these seven departments.

4. The professors of the standard college should have a college degree or its equivalent; they should instruct in that department for which they have had special preparation.

5. The library of the standard college should contain at least 5,000 volumes.

6. The laboratory equipment of the Standard College should be sufficient to carry on work in Physics, Chemistry and General Science. The equipment should represent at least $5,000.

7. The number of hours of work a student should be required to carry a week in the standard college should be at least sixteen; ordinarily not more than twenty.

8. The Standard College should require no professor to carry ordinarily more than sixteen hours of teaching a week. Does not the question naturally arise, Are there any Catholic colleges that meet this standard? If so, which ones? We have committed ourselves to a standard; are we prepared to abide by it? In considering the advisability of giving a sanction to our labors in the shape of a list of standard colleges, it is well to remember that there are different classes of institutions. We might group them under three headings:

1. Those institutions that at present meet fully the conditions of the standard college as accepted by the College Department.

2. Those institutions that are not fully in line at present but are rapidly improving and in a short time will be in Class 1.

3. Those institutions that are not in line at present and have no desire to improve so as to reach the standard.

The institutions of the first class need not fear the effects of a sanction; they would rather find it an advantage. The institutions of the second class will find that a sanction has the force of hastening their advancement, and they should be given every help to improve. The institutions of the third class are like the barren fig tree-why should they encumber the ground?

There are reasons, of expediency at least, that seem to urge us to formulate a list of colleges for which the College Department will vouch. The present age is statistic-mad, and the power of the printed page has lost none of its attraction for the ordinary man. The absence of a school from a list where some think it ought to be found does not help that

school in the estimation of those who simply read statistics or who have a more practical interest. There is unfortunately a presumption against the standard of Catholic colleges, and however unjust we may consider this situation, the fact remains. We are now dealing with facts, not with ideals. When efficiency has taken such hold of the public point of view, we can ill afford to court those methods that a priori brand us as inefficient. Again a fact. We must prove our position, and we must prove it in a way that can be grasped by the ordinary man. He can understand a list of standard colleges though he may know nothing of educational standards. He can understand a rating, though he be ignorant of the nature of the test that determined the rating. To his mind a list of standard colleges means that all the schools in that list are capable of doing the work that a college is supposed to do, and that any school in that list to that extent at least is worthy of patronage. The absence of any school from that list is a serious handicap to the claims of that school.

The standardizing of schools of all kinds has become so widespread that there are agencies all over the country engaged in this work. Some are voluntary in character. Their membership is made up of schools that have applied for admission and whose standards have been found sufficient. Some are under the control of a State, and all the schools within the State are made to conform to a given standard. This activity has had the effect of making the people acquainted in a general way with the work being done, and has made them judge of schools pretty largely according to the valuation put upon them by these agencies. They know that every association represents a certain definite aim, they know that educational associations are concerned with educational matters and they look to these associations for light on school questions. They are aware of the existence of the Catholic Educational Association, and, naturally, when consulting the proceedings of our association they expect to find the same kind of information that they look for and find in the proceedings of other educational associations. Can we disappoint them and hope to keep their confidence?

We often complain that a great number of Catholic students

do not come to Catholic colleges for their collegiate work. We are anxious to have them with us. There are reasons why some of them go to other schools, reasons that in no way reflect on the Catholic college. There are a great many, however, that we feel we ought to have, but does it not occur to us that we must be ready to give what they have a right to expect before we can seriously hope to bring them to our doors? This means simply that we must have a standard college, we must be able to take graduates, whether from the Catholic high school or the public high school, and give them a regular college training. If we are ready to do this we are a standard college, and if we are a standard college why not declare this fact in such a way that those who are interested may know? Those who are not coming to us now will hardly turn in our direction unless they are convinced that in externals we are at least up to the ordinary college, and they will seek this information in the easiest way, that is, they will consult lists of standard colleges. This may insure a hearing; any other method means almost certain disregard on the part of prospective students. Nor can we justly appeal to the support of high schools, either Catholic or public, if we cannot assure them that their pupils will be properly taken care of. The high schools owe it to their pupils to direct them, if not to the best, at least to the satisfactory. All this means the maintenance of standards, and those who maintain standards owe it to themselves and to the cause of Catholic education to let their light be seen. There has been a decided increase in attendance at Catholic colleges. Gratifying as this is we are still only receiving onehalf the number of Catholic students who attend college. The actual figures will be found in the "Report on the Attendance at Catholic Colleges and Universities in the United States," gathered by Doctor James Burns, C.S.C., for the present convention.

Why should we not bring out our own list of standard colleges? Some Catholic colleges belong to educational associations, and to be admitted they had to reach a certain standard. When the State demands registration and the attaining and maintaining of a certain standard, Catholic