Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/165

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THE AGE OF COLLEGE GRADUATION.

161

assumed great increase in the age of graduation, taken generally and so far as our material reaches, is absolutely non-existent.

The median age of graduation in Dartmouth, for instance, has in one hundred and thirty years fallen three months; in one hundred years the median for Middlebury has risen four months. But note that in 1830-39 the median for Middlebury was two months higher than now. In the case of Bowdoin, there has been a steady rise to a little over two years, which, however, reached its maximum in the decade beginning in 1860, and has since been falling. In seventy years, the University of Vermont median age has risen but two months; while in the same period that of Adelbert College has fallen three months. Again, we may compare the New York University with Oberlin College. While the age at the former has in sixty years risen one year and five months, in the latter it has fallen one year and seven months. It may be noted in passing that the number of graduates in the given

Table I.

Median Ages of Graduation by Decades.

U. of Ala.		N. Y. Uni.		Wesleyan.		Oberlin.		De Pauw.		Syracuse.
Age.	No.	Age.	No.	Age.	No.	Age.	No.	Age.	No.	Age.	No.



20-4	57	20-2	73	23-0	107	24-11	34
20-3	126	20-3	147	23-3	231	25-6	122	21-7	63
20-9	173	20-7	102	23-4	231	25-2	120	22-9	89	23-11	28
20-0	48	20-8	128	24-0	260	24-0	176	23-2	115	24-0	29
20-3	66	21-6	141	23-8	325	24-3	270	23-1	230	24-6	138
20-0	209	21-1	154	23-3	323	24-3	267	23-2	317	23-9	224
20-2	270	21-8	115	23-6	456	23-11	403	23-9	371	23-11	264

^[1]

↑ seems to be used as a semi-professional degree, implying for instance, that the student has taken an engineering, or some such course not purely 'cultural.' It seemed impossible to shut out entirely cases of the semi-professional degrees. The number of them is, however, too small to materially influence the results. In Dartmouth College the graduates of the Chandeler Scientific School are not included in the calculations, for the reasons above given. The justice of the exclusions above referred to is evident at once; for the examination is an attempt to show the changes that have come about in the college course as formerly understood. That is, when it did not include the study of a profession within itself, as several of the present courses do. Only young men have been considered in my inquiry. It is interesting, however, to note that if young women had been included in the investigation, the averages and medians would have, in almost every case, been materially reduced. In other words, the young woman is either more highly selected as a student, or she meets with fewer hindrances external to her work while going through high school and college. At any rate, whatever the cause or causes may be, the young woman graduates are, as a rule, younger than the young men in the same college. This subject is worthy of a separate inquiry.

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[1] seems to be used as a semi-professional degree, implying for instance, that the student has taken an engineering, or some such course not purely 'cultural.' It seemed impossible to shut out entirely cases of the semi-professional degrees. The number of them is, however, too small to materially influence the results. In Dartmouth College the graduates of the Chandeler Scientific School are not included in the calculations, for the reasons above given. The justice of the exclusions above referred to is evident at once; for the examination is an attempt to show the changes that have come about in the college course as formerly understood. That is, when it did not include the study of a profession within itself, as several of the present courses do. Only young men have been considered in my inquiry. It is interesting, however, to note that if young women had been included in the investigation, the averages and medians would have, in almost every case, been materially reduced. In other words, the young woman is either more highly selected as a student, or she meets with fewer hindrances external to her work while going through high school and college. At any rate, whatever the cause or causes may be, the young woman graduates are, as a rule, younger than the young men in the same college. This subject is worthy of a separate inquiry.

[1]