UTOPIA COLLEGE

Under the title "Utopia College: A Prospectus" Dean Hibbard of the University of North Carolina pictures in the current number of the Outlook and Independent his conception of what the ideal college should be. First he pays tribute to the experiments in progressive education now being conducted along various lines at Harvard, Wisconsin, Swarthmore, and other institutions, which are to a considerable extent embodied in his own plan. The prime purpose of Utopia College is the avowed one of all modern universities; namely, to stimulate intelligent thinking. In pursuit of this fundamental end, however, Dean Hibbard proposes a radical innovation, such as is not approximated by any formally organized American institution, and to which the nearest approach is the experimental school at Wisconsin. All regular courses are to be abolished and the efforts of the students at Utopia College will be directed to a study of Man--in his relation to the past, nature, society, and the world of thought. Particular intellectual fields will only be investigated as illustrations of principles.

The vital question raised in this article is whether the conventional course can be entirely discarded, and if possible whether such a step is after all advisable. The very nature of the proposition, as the writer clearly points out, implies that practically all instruction would be individual, since formal class meetings would be done away with. The difficulty of securing an adequate supply of instructors with the proper qualifications, something absolutely essential to the success of the system, is a serious obstacle to its materialization. Moreover, the expense herein entailed makes the possibility of its introduction on a large scale still more remote. Even putting these practical considerations aside, there is much to be said for the present day theory of education, which is based on the principle that concentrated study of a restricted field is the best method of arriving at the universal truths which are to be found in every department of learning.