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The University of
North Carolina.
Does the internal condition of the external
prosperity?
A
Memorial
Submitted to the consideration of the
"It is our clear opinion that the usefulness of theInstitution depends not so much on the number of students as on their exemplary conduct."
(Extract from the minutes of theBoard )
September 29th 1856.
A few years ago, the
The number of students was rapidly increasing; Districts which usually sent their
young men to be educated in other institutions now directed their steps towards
To the great regret of a few, and the utter surprise of all, the MENE, TEKEL,
UPHARSIN, suddenly blazed out upon the wall. The Edimburg
Review, in a series of remarkable articles, called the attention of the
public to the state of things which was prevailing inside of that florishing intrinsic excellence of a Literary Institution is not to be estimated by
the multitude of those who flock to it for education."
The voice of Sir
The
What has been the result of their energetic measures?
It is this result, Gentlemen, which I envy for an Institution which is very dear
to us all; it is your initiative which I respectfully solicit for the
introduction of reforms which I most sincerely deem necessary to the welfare and
lasting prosperity of the
I owe it to myself to declare at the outset that my remarks are not prompted by a
spirit of spite or rancour. Although I have suffered and still suffer greatly,
from the effects of a policy which did to some extent impair my career of
usefulness in the
Your time is precious, the evenings are short, and I shall dwell only upon one point.
The main, if not the sole object of a literary institution, is the imparting to
young men of that share of wholesome knowledge which they most absolutely need,
and strive at great sacrifice of money,
The doors of the impunity in all, soon bring out of their shells these outcries of
mischief and disorder. They could be easily checked on first exhibiting their
proclivities; but they are suffered to go on unmolested, unpunished. Impunity
renders them bolder and bolder. It is no longer to tease their teacher that they
set the whole recitation in an uproar, but to gain the plaudits of their class
mates; it is to merit the reputation of a bold, fearless hero, that they insult
the professor himself in his very chair. Impunity, repeated impunity, removes
all checks, opens all sluices and hardens the most timid of students.
The people, the trustees, are not aware and could scarcely realise to what
extent disorder is suffered to exist within the walls of the
I do not hesitate to assert that as a rule our Students behave in a very
disorderly manner; and so far as I can judge from the opinion expressed by
I must not be understood to say that such a state of things exists at all times
and in all recitation rooms; for this would be tantamount to saying that the
I have stated, and beg leave to repeat, that the aim of a University is not to
assemble a great many young men and keep them together quibus cum que viis; its object does not consist in being able to
print yearly a voluminous catalogue with long strings of names; its glory does
not lie in having it heralded through the columns of newspapers that it is in a
florishing condition, because it contains within its walls three hundred
students or more, a Faculty of fifteen instructors, a library without books and
$200000 in bank and rail roadstocks! No, it consists in making of those
Teaching is arduous at all times, so arduous indeed, as to require all the
energies, talents and attention which the instructor can possibly bring into the
discharge of his duties. Now, I ask, how can a teacher do justice to the
studious portion of the class, how can he impart to them rules, and expound
principles, which require a full command of memory and an association of ideas,
the thread of which is sometimes connected at both ends to the most incongruous
sciences, when he must be constantly on the alert, and watch the tongue, hands
and feet of the class; when he is interrupted in his remarks by sneers and
laughter; when at times the noise is so great that he cannot even make himself
heard? But how painful to think that in this motley crowd, there are young men,
In a short time, the instructor himself becomes discouraged. The recitation no
longer bears the appearance of a meeting for the inter change of thoughts, but
of a contest of a war. He arms himself with reproofs and censures; he threatens,
all in vain! He then requests, sometimes he flatters, at times he ceases to see
and hear. This, however, is the result of long practice, and before sinking into
an apparent supiness or indifference, he usually has exhausted all other
weapons. He has used and blounted one that never was very sharp, but the most
dreaded of all, the ratio ultima, — a
summons before the Faculty.
Now I ask permission to appeal to figures. Despite the reluctance with which the
instructor resorts to coercive measures, I find on the Faculty journal, just for
our last collegiate year (from July 1855 to July 1856) and independently of all
omissions and private admonitions, between fifty five
and sixty summons for irregularity of conduct in the
recitation room alone: some of the delinquents actually appearing for the eleventh and fifteenth
time!!!
Out of that vast number, how many were suspended, dismissed or otherwise punished? To be sure, they all were told less or more severely, "Now, Sir, you ought to be ashamed of yourself" or "Don’t you do such a thing again" &c; but out of these 55, only four were sent home, some to return, however, and become to this day, the dread of their instructors and a plague to the class, — a wart on the body public!
The circumstances under which this punishment was inflicted need be told.
They were Freshman, and had been in the
Now, mark the effect.
One of these had scarcely returned, when the Faculty
Despite all that, these young men, with the exception of one, who, was dismissed as late as last week, for the third time, are still in our midst, clinging to the class to the last, and ranking as low in scholarship as they do in behaviour.
When the stranger, the uniniated one, enquires and wonders at such a strange and unaccountable leniency, he is politely told by the older members of the Faculty, "You do not understand it; that is the way we always did manage to get along; it is a good policy, it keeps the young men here, and after all, they are gradually improving."
So is mankind in general, and I can scarcely believe that either the public or
the
Our students, taken one by one, are not in themselves worse than those of other
institutions; they are, as a rule, well-brought up and of good mind, and if soon
after being matriculated, many of them forsake their text-books, and acquire bad
habits, this is simply to be ascribed to the natural bent of the student, who,
if permitted to follow his impulse as a student,
which is quite different from his impulse as a man,
without being effectually checked and curbed in due time, rarely stops until age
mutters to him that the time has come to desist. But then it is generally too
late; the mind has lost its suppleness and those brilliant qualities which are
the appanage of youth. Let the discipline be as lax at
How was it in the days of Dr. certain and invariable discipline his only method. A scholar
himself, a man capable of appreciating learning in others and to devise the
means to impart it, everything here, bears the mark of his impress! The few
books we possess, and which are rendered still more conspicuous by the sad
appearance of the empty shelves around them, themselves attest his taste, his
erudition and that far sighted policy which exacts as much from dead as from
living teachers. Prudent, paternal, but independent and inflexible in his
principles, he scorned to cater for a puerile popularity. He knew the importance
of his trust, watched the studies as well as the behaviour of his pupils, and when he had ascertained
that one was wasting his time and the pecuniary resources of his parents, he did
not wait until he had admonished him fifteen times to remove him: a short but
very distinct intimation to the father or guardian, soon gave to understand that
the interest of the molens volens, withdrawn he invariably was! "A
few good scholars," Dr.
The truth is that in our
Now, where is the father, the citizen, who can ever be so blind to the claims of justice, his own interest and that of his son, to countenance, to desire a tolerance which costs so dear both to others and himself? I say, and am proud to say, that there is not one in a hundred!
The evils which I have pointed out to you, Gentlemen of the external prosperity, which is very great, an internal State of welfare and intrinsic worth, which could not fail to become a source of happiness
to our citizens, to our