Stress on research rather than teaching ability in the advancement of university professors was attacked last night by Roswell G. Ham, president-elect of Mount Holyoke College at the Teacher's Association meeting in the Hotel Commander.
"One of the greatest current mistakes of University administration is the appraisal of value in teaching by one system, namely individual research reputation," he declared.
Criticizing the "wishful thinking" of a system which restricts itself entirely to this method, Professor Ham described the present University situation for a teacher as a stream from which all the nuggets of research had been washed". But, he affirmed, "there's still gold in them thar hills.'"
The rule of the thumb of what the scholar has published may be an efficient standard for his progress in the sciences, ham said, but the situation is not the same in the humanities. "What we need is a different theory of administration between the two," he stated, "with more emphasis on the teaching of a subject as a whole as well as the existing stress on individual research."
On the subject of his appointment to the presidency of Mount Holyoke College, Professor Ham said that he had no definite platform of administration but intended to work quitely within the existing system for what he believed was the ideal. Referring to the recent agitation against his appointment by an ardent group of Mount Holyoke feminists, he said with a smile, "I have received innumerable welcomes and some shots since my appointment."
Professor Ham also attacked the "dog in the manger" attitude of the modern educator towards anyone who trespassed on his field.
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