Why Our Science Students Go to Germany
THE fact that every year more than one hundred and fifty American students are pursuing their post-graduate studies in German universities is very significant, and it is well worth inquiring why they should prefer to study abroad rather than to attend their own higher institutions of learning. Doubtless each individual is influenced by a variety of causes, but there must be some general cause underlying all cases.
Of the subsidiary reasons, the one of finance is perhaps of importance. One can study three years at a German university for the same price that it would cost him for two years at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, or Cornell. Besides, the great advantage of travel is included in this price. Further, the much greater ease with which the German language can be acquired when once among the people themselves is no mean inducement. Many may go relying upon the mere fact of their having studied in Germany, or their having obtained a German degree, to secure them a good position upon their return. The confidence of these, however, seems to lead to the great cause underlying this migration. Why should our educators and trustees who have the power of appointing to good positions prefer German graduates to such an extent ? The answer must be that they are better informed, and that the German university system is superior to ours. If this be so, then the matter is well worth consideration, and steps should be taken to remedy and improve our methods, and place them at least on a par with, if not above, those of our German cousins.
That the Germans possess a much larger number of superior scholars is manifested by the abundance of scientific periodical literature in that country. Wiedemann’s Annalen in physics and the Jahres-Berichte of the German Chemical Society contain more original matter each month than is published in America during a whole year. Furthermore, on an average, this matter is far more scholarly in character, and indicates a much greater precision of manipulation than is shown in American scientific work. Now it is generally conceded by our foremost educators that true scholarship must be based upon original work. In our larger institutions, post-graduates, if possessed of a requisite amount of proficiency, are immediately set upon investigations; and, judging from the ultimate success which such men attain, they obtain more benefit than through mere study-table reading. So successful is this style of study that the Harvard Law School pursues its instruction now after a seminary method as nearly akin to original investigation as is possible with such a subject.
The large amount of German literature does not, however, come from the pens of a few. Students as well as professors contribute, and though criticism might be made in many cases upon the literary merit, yet the publishers are so capable and successful in selecting the good from the bad that all have their scientific value. In America, on the other hand, surprisingly few men are called upon to make all the advance in science. In the department of physics but six men are prominent from their contributions. This number must remain thus diminutive as long as our professors remain schoolmasters. If professors must hear recitations, must prepare and perform demonstrative experiments, and must continue to hammer knowledge into heads of students who pose like dry sponges, ever ready to take up water, then the time which they can devote to research must be limited. Of the six prominent American physicists, four are in our larger universities, which are aiming at the German system, and two are in the government service.
If, then, we wish to compete with Germany in science, we must adopt some system which will teach our students not only what has been, but what is liable to be discovered ; which will teach them how to look for the latter; and which will give the professors time for private work. These ends are accomplished by the German system, which is substantially the following: The student, upon admission, must have passed a severe gymnasial examination. The certificate which he receives indicates that he has mastered the common elementary studies, and, above all, that he has learned how to study. It is supposed that he has passed the stage where a lesson must be given out to him before he learns it, and that he will spend his time in acquiring additional knowledge from all sources and with only a mere indication of the direction. Upon this supposition is based his whole university course. He will be expected to attend descriptive lectures in his various departments which give the substance of a text-book on the subject, but he will not have to recite nor pass any examinations until he has finished his studies. He is not obliged even to attend these lectures; in fact, he may cut them all. One thing, however, is required: when he comes up for the examination for his degree, he must know a large proportion of the topics treated. The effect of this freedom on the amount of work done by the students is marvelous. The fear of not being able to pass this only examination stimulates to a thorough study of subjects merely hinted at by the instructors. For instance, a short time ago, a German student of physics, hearing his professor speak highly of Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity, purchased the work, and shortly afterwards informed the professor that he intended reading it through during the Easter ferien. He was deterred from this only by the professor’s voluntary information that Maxwell himself could not read it through in that time.
To be sure, such zeal is not manifested by all, for there are students in Germany as well as in America who attend the university with no intention of studying. Such are the corps-students, whose sole aim seems to be to consume as much beer as possible, and to disfigure their faces as much as their poor swordsmanship will allow. The Fliegende Blatter, in one of its jokes, causes a corps-student to say to one of his beer - brothers, “Who ever had such miserable luck as I ? “ What’s the matter now ? ” “ Why, I went up for my examination yesterday, and had to pass it the first time trying.” Again, a stranger in Berlin, upon asking of a student the way to the university, received the reply, “ Sorry not to accommodate you, sir, but I’m a student myself.” The class of students, however, whose characteristics are thus exaggerated is in no wise to reflect against the German system. The same class exists under all systems.
The student of science, besides hearing the descriptive lectures and preparing himself on the matter treated in them, enters the laboratory. The object of this is to acquaint him with the processes employed in advanced work. If his subject be physics, he occupies himself with measurements; if it be chemistry, he makes qualitative and quantitative analyses; zoölogy has its dissection; geology, its examination of rocks; botany, its analysis of flowers, etc. Great weight is laid upon this portion of the course. Here the student first comes into contact with the instructors, and the latter become acquainted with the different merits of the students. It is here that the students imbibe from their instructors that which will surely bring out their talents, if they have any.
The attractiveness of most German laboratories, their system and their convenience, exercises a great influence upon the student at this stage. Has he ever so small a spark of liking for the subject, it will be fanned into a flame by the allurements around him. A Small boy who first sees a military parade wishes to be a soldier ; on his first visit to the seaport he desires to battle with the waves ; and he longs for a Bohemian life as he listens to the well-told anecdotes of the commercial traveler. The student is but a large small boy, and his once wild ecstasy has now become a refined enthusiasm.
Two or three years passed in the manner mentioned leave the student equipped with a knowledge of the methods used by those who have preceded him, acquainted with a large number of phenomena and laws, and prepared to enter in earnest upon some original investigation. His time is now given almost entirely to the laboratory. He is brought into very close contact with the head of his department, by whom be is treated with consideration, and from whom he receives valuable suggestions. What few lectures he hears are upon advanced theory. He is probably a member of some departmental society, where subjects of present interest are discussed. This may be in colloquia, and the subjects may be abstracts of the current literature. This enables him to become acquainted with what his colleagues are doing. Moreover, in the laboratory he meets men of all ages, each one striving to broaden the domain of human knowledge, and each one exerting an influence that makes the idlest man work.
His research once completed and published, he is prepared to pass his examination and receive his degree. But how different from what he had expected ! The things which at the beginning of his course were so difficult to remember are now but commonplaces. By a true method of study he has obtained a generalizing comprehension, which enables him to grasp his subject by books, chapters, paragraphs, sections, and individual phenomena.
The causes which can effect such a result are varied, and doubtless many are apparently trivial. The diversified reading hi the start must teach that ten text-books on physics are not ten new works to be digested, but ten different methods of putting the same matter. To harmonize these methods requires an individual system.
The accuracy required in the laboratory work demands a knowledge of all influencing phenomena, and before corrections can be made ultimate causes must be identified or properly related.
The enthusiasm of a large number of earnest students has untold influence. Not only is a fact once acquired not allowed to be lost, but each individual has some easy method of remembering some difficult point. A poetical friend remembered a difficult mathematical formula, containing fifteen terms, by scanning and rhyming it. Another remembered that the heat produced by an electric current was proportional to the square of the current-strength, because, if proportional to the first power, it would be negative heat, or cold, when the direction of the current was changed.
The superiority of the instructors is the most important factor. The German institution, the privat-docent, is very effective in preventing the fossilizing of the professors. Upon showing a requisite degree of scholarship, any student is allowed to give lectures upon any Subject in his department. He receives no pay from the university, but if he can succeed in obtaining hearers he is entitled to all the fees. If he is a good lecturer, the attendance increases, and the full professor loses a corresponding number of students. Not only does the latter lose the fees of the students, but he soon loses his popularity, and the privat-docent is on a fair way to a professorship. There is thus a scientific rivalry continually going on, and the professors are forced to keep themselves well informed. There is a mathematical professor in one of the Bavarian universities who for three semesters had not a single student. All the students who should have attended his lectures preferred to hear a live young privat-docent. Nearly all the present professors have in past years served in this capacity.
From what has preceded it will be seen that the differences between the German and American systems are few and easily set aside. First, the German students are well fitted for the university ; secondly, they are required to be independent in their study; thirdly, their laboratory work is more extended and more accurate; and lastly, the professors, being able to do and doing original work, exert an influence which inspires the students to keep on and overcome difficulties.
I believe that the American students in our first-class colleges are as well fitted as the Germans. (The often-made objection that the German gymnasial graduate is to be compared only with our college sophomore might here he raised. This is not well founded, for the average ages of the freshman of both countries are the same; and liberal educators have in practice indicated their opinion that when a student leaves the fitting school he is prepared for the university, and not for the college.)
The amount of laboratory work in American colleges is on an average very small. The smaller colleges dispense with it entirely in most subjects except chemistry. The first-class colleges are introducing more and more each year, and Harvard has very recently put an experimental course into the requirements for admission in physics. In the department of chemistry, the change in this direction has been most marked. Twenty years ago a college graduate could hardly be found who had taken a course in quantitative analysis. Now the chemical course at Harvard equals that in most German universities.
The chief comparison, however, must be drawn in respect to post-graduate courses, for nearly all the American students abroad belong to this class. The character of the professors and the laboratory surroundings are the prime factors. The professors, unless continually engaged in original research, are not able to give adequate assistance. The laboratory must be well supplied with apparatus, materials, and collections. Nearly every department lacks, at present, some important part. For instance, the physical cabinets are overstocked with demonstrative apparatus, while the student engaging in quantitative work must manufacture everything needed.
American students themselves seem to possess more ability than the Germans. But characteristic American haste more than nullifies this advantage. The American is in too much of a hurry to control any results he may obtain ; too ready to consider a felicitous experiment as positive proof of a previously formed theory, and too ready to consider a small influencing condition of no importance. He is also too easily discouraged by first difficulties, and lacks what a Western humorist has termed stick-to-it-iveness. Finally, he almost invariably displays his practical Yankee traits in trying to obtain the largest possible objective for a telescope, disregarding the fact that the brains behind the ocular are the chief thing.
But his faults are remedied when he goes to Germany, and it is to be hoped that in a short time they will not even be allowed to appear in his own country. Every college of importance is rapidly adopting the German system in chemistry, and the same must be done eventually in all departments.
Samuel Sheldon.