II. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MODERN CURRICULA.

The material used in the comparison of the modern curricula of the five colleges in which the historical development of the curricula has already been traced is from the following sources: First, the courses of study and reports of 1915-16 for Vassar, Wellesley, Radcliffe, Barnard, and Mount Holyoke; second, information gained by interviews with teachers and students of the courses of study; third, by observation of the actual teaching. The college catalogues vary greatly as to the amount and value of the information contained therein. Vassar, Wellesley, and Mount Holyoke to a lesser degree, make a brief statement of the ground covered by a course; Barnard states only prerequisite points and fees; while Radcliffe, besides the "Course of Instruction," uses the official register pamphlets of Harvard, which give the details of the courses in each department. The last method would appear to obviate for the student the necessity of as complete advisorship from the faculty as is incurred by the less detailed information of the ordinary catalogues. Information gained by interviews with teachers and students is of value only to give the kind and amount of work which the course aims to accomplish, and second, the kind and amount of work which it actually did accomplish in particular cases. Observation of the actual teaching of the college instructor is lessened in the value of its results by the fact that no supervision of college teaching is customary, and in consequence the instructor is ill at ease if subjected to observation.

The material is handled, first, as a whole, by a comparative tabulation of all the courses and half courses offered in the five colleges; second, the same tabulation in hours; third, by analyses of separate departments in each college; fourth, by comparison of corresponding departments in the five colleges.

Courses. Hours. Courses. Hours. Courses. Hours. Courses. Hours. Courses. Hours.

1 In philosophy.

26

26

395

20

28

475

35

656

31

528

25

404

? Hygiene department offers 22 teacher-training courses and 10 general courses; zoology department includes one physiology course.

3 In history.

4 Semitic.

Omitted, 1915-16.

6 With Latin and Greek.

7 In Education.

8 With art.

• In zoology.

10 The minimum value is given for Columbia courses offered at Barnard. The number of points is usually determined by the amount of individual work.

The object of the arrangement in tabular form of all the courses and half courses offered for a B. A. is, first, to ascertain all of the subjects taught by women's colleges as represented by the chosen five; second, to measure the amount of work done in each subject in

Hours

55

50

45°

courses and half courses in each of the different colleges; third, to measure the richness of curriculum in individual colleges by a record of all subjects emphasized and omitted; fourth, to find the total number of courses and half courses offered by each college.

75

70

WELLESLEY COLLEGE

FIG. 1.-Number of hours given to subjects common to the five colleges.

The number of department units into which the subjects are grouped totals, 40. Of the colleges, Barnard and Radcliffe (the two colleges allied with men's universities) most closely approximate the total number. Of the 5 lacking 40 at Radcliffe, Bible is given in the Semitic department, and Old Irish is omitted in 1915-16, lens

only three special departments unprovided for-architecture, English language, and comparative philology.

Radcliffe presents a total of 35 departments; Barnard, 31; Wellesley, 28; Vassar, 25; and Mount Holyoke, 25. That Radcliffe offers more graduate work than the other colleges in no way affects the

FIG. 2.--Number of hours given to subjects common to the five colleges.

number of departments of the college, since each department offers some undergraduate work.

Of the total number of courses and half courses, or year and semester courses, Radcliffe again has the lead by a large majority, this time in consequence of the broader curriculum necessary for graduate work.

A modification of the total of Wellesley is made necessary by the exclusion of the 22 courses of the hygiene department which lead to

a special certificate. In none of the colleges have the courses in gymnastics, sports, and dancing been reckoned.

The totals of courses show the colleges in the following order: Radcliffe, 314; Mount Holyoke, 251; Barnard, 236; Vassar, 235; Wellesley, 217. The arrangement at Mount Holyoke of semester courses to a large degree in all departments accounts for the lead over the colleges which use the year unit more frequently. Since, however, each semester usually deals with a separate subject, the summary in terms of semesters gives the amount of distribution of subjects within the department.

FIG. 3.-Number of hours given to subjects common to the five colleges.

Since, on the other hand, semester totals give no adequate notion of the actual number of hours devoted to the courses of a department, the department measure by semesters has been checked up by a count of the number of hours offered by each department. The totals in hours of work offered show the colleges in the following order: Radcliffe, 656 hours; Barnard, 528 hours; Wellesley, 475 hours; Mount Holyoke, 404 hours; Vassar, 395 hours. This changes Wellesley from the least number of semester courses to third in number of hours.

Considerable variation exists as to the number of hours offered by the departments of the colleges. Extreme emphasis is obvious at Radcliffe in the department of economics, which offers 19 hours more than any other college, in German and education, which are