Advertisement

THE PRESS

Degrees in a New Way.

A "University of Utopia" in which the titles of graduate school and senior and junior college would be abolished in favor of institutions of higher learning divided into professional schools and five divisions in arts, was advocated by Dr. Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, at the opening of the University of North Carolina's conference on education today.

Dr. Hutchins scored, "hours and residence requirements as criteria for winning college degrees." The five divisions of the University of Utopia he listed as the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, biological sciences and the college.

Under the new plan, he said, the college faculty would be charged with discovering what higher education is and with administering it. The present business depression, he declared, could have been diverted to a large extent if the colleges in recent years had devoted more attention to studies on contemporary human problems, wide dissemination of the results obtained, more attention to adult education and more attention to the development of leadership.

Under Dr. Hutchins's plan, a student could enter his "utopia university" when he can show that he is ready to do so irrespective of his years in high school or his grades there. He would remain in college until his general education is complete, irrespective of the time or courses taken.

"General examination would indicate his abilities and not the addition of credits." Dr. Hutchins said. "His course of study would be simple in the extreme. There would be four general lecture courses, planned to last through two years, in the humanities, and the social, physical and biological sciences.

Advertisement

From the lecture courses students particularly interested and qualified would be chosen for honor work in one or more fields, continuing to attend such lectures in the other fields as appeal to them. --New York Times.

Advertisement