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March 24, 1928 WINNETKA TALK 13 Describes Function of the Experimental College at U. of W. (Contributed) Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn of the University of Wisconsin, head of the experimental college there, addressed the various Winnetka Parent-Teacher groups at Skokie school Monday eve- ning, March 19. He spoke both on higher education in general, and on his experimental college, which is now being conducted with about one hun- dred and fifteen freshman boys at Madison. He took up first the state of present day education. One of the difficulties in education of the youth of today is that the students themselves often do not know what they want, or why they are going to college. Americans espe- cially in this age do not know "what they are at," and have no coherent view of education. And so Americans are hard to educate. He then spoke of his experiment, of its beginnings, of its difficulties, and its success thus far. One of the diffi- culties which had to be overcome was that of credits. "Students," said Mr. Meiklejohn, "come to school and college for credits. So we must be able to offer credits. No credits, no students, no experiment. And so the faculty of the University of Wisconsin generously agreed that whatever might be taught, or not taught, in the ex- perimental college, nevertheless the students would be allowed two years of full credit for their work. It was planned to take a number of freshmen, who should not known beforehand what was going to happen to them, and train them for their first two years of college, in this experimental college. After that they would join the regular schools of the university. In this experiment, teachers from every department joined. They came together, and lived with the students, in one united group. The teachers had assembled, in the beginning, with no very definite idea as to just what they were going to do, or how they were going to do it. And because it is Dr. Meiklejohn's belief that the object of education should be not to Tailoring Establishment in Winnetka New in Winnetka, Establishment that is your patronage. a Tailoring worthy of Special attention will be given to cutting and trimming of Ladies' and Men's Made-to-Measure Suits and Riding Habits. Cleaning General Tailoring and Fur Work HENRY SVIHLA Custom Tailor Phone Winn. 984 | 8 Carlton Bldg. inform, not to fill the mind with mere knowledge, and facts, but to make minds with more wisdom, and more understanding, and because one of the things he wanted to accomplish was the development of the student's initi- ative, he initiated the following system of teaching. Each week the students were assign- ed a certain amount of reading, on which they were required to write a paper. The reading was to be on Greek life in the fifth century B.C, and on life in the 19th century A.D. Each week a different phase was taken up. For one or two weeks the subject would be science, for the next two it might be literature, or geo- graphy or art, and every phase was thus taken up in turn. What they would do, when they would do it, all was left entirely to the students. And the students responded to this by beginning to take the initiative, seek- ing out things for themselves, and in studying so many phases, they were not just assimilating facts, but were developing an understanding of the problems of that day and age, as well as our own. Dr. Meiklejohn, in quoting Woodrow Wilson, said that the conditions in college life were too social, and not conducive to study, that the students were bound by traditions to such an extent that studies became merely an unpleasant necessity, to be hurried over and cast aside as soon as possible. The experimental college is not bound by such traditions, but by their one main purpose, and their common in- tellectual experiences. It is too early now to decide, or even to predict, whether this experiment will be a success. But it would seem that though the idea is a marked departure from ordinary methods of college ed- ucation, yet it has its points, and the outcome of this famous experiment will be waited with much interest by all those interested in education. Hep | FILL 1152 Central St. ~ RY CLEANIN \ RUSH WILL SOON Plan to greet the Spring with a new wardrobe by having us clean your suits, dresses, hats, gloves, ties, coats and other wearing apparel. You'll be surprised how our way of cleaning and repairing will restore at least another season's wear to garments that you may be planning to discard. Have our man call before the usual Spring rush. Service is rapid--work excellent and charges moderate. Schultz & Nord New Process Cleaning WILMETTE : Phones 320-321