University of Virginia Library

COURSES OF LIBERAL STUDY.

The system of independent schools, in the Academic, as well as the
other Departments of the University, assumes that opportunities for
study and instruction are privileges to be sought voluntarily and eagerly.
Students are therefore allowed to elect for themselves the courses of study
to which they are led by their individual tastes and proposed pursuits in
life. The wisdom of the founder in establishing such a system has been
amply vindicated by time and experience; and in recent years many institutions
of higher education in the United States have, to a greater or
less extent, adopted methods involving the same principle. And not
alone to those who wish to make special attainments in single departments
of knowledge does this freedom of election commend itself; it has
serious advantages also for most of those students who seek the common
goal of liberal education by ways which varying aptitude, varying preparation,
or varying opportunities render of necessity divergent.

But numerous and carefully arranged groups of studies leading to
liberal degrees have been marked out; and it is generally best for the
academic student from the outset to follow a definite plan of studies,
under competent advice, leading to one or more of these degrees, though
not necessarily limited by the requirements for any degree. A course
of study leading directly to an academical degree will have one or the
other of two general characters:—it will be a specialized literary or scientific
course on the one hand, or it will have a broader character, embracing
both literary and scientific studies. Of the former character will be
courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Letters and Doctor
of Letters, and to the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Doctor of
Science; while literary and scientific studies will be united in the courses
leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of
Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy.

The attainments required by the law for the several degrees are stated
elsewhere (see pp. 59, 60); but for the guidance of students in arranging
their plans of study some of the explanations most often needed are
given here.

Three different groups of studies lead to the degree of Bachelor of
Letters, as follows:

       

(1). Latin.	(2). Latin.	(3). Latin.
Greek.	Greek.	Greek.
Moral Philosophy.	Moral Philosophy.	Moral Philosophy.
Modern Languages.	English.	Historical Science.

In the first of these groups a still further variation may be introduced,
as the choice of the two languages to be pursued in the School of Modern
Languages is varied. (See p. 19.)

For the degree of Bachelor of Science the requirement is rigid and admits
of no variation, save in the order of taking up the several studies;
and the same may be said with reference to the degree of Master of Arts.

The number of possible groups of studies leading to the degree of
Bachelor of Philosophy is very considerable. Any three of the six Literary
Schools may be selected—say Latin, Greek, and Moral Philosophy;
or French and German, English and Historical Science; or Latin, Greek
and English (the number of possible combinations is twenty). After
making a choice among the Literary Schools, the student will select any
two of the four Schools in the Scientific Department—say Natural Philosophy
and Mathematics, or General Chemistry and Natural Philosophy
(the number of possible combinations is six).

The candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts also has a very wide
liberty in arranging his group of studies. By way of illustrating the meaning
of the law stated at p. 60, two specimen forms of compliance with its
three-fold requirement are here sketched:

                           

A. (1) Distinctions in	B. (1) Distinctions in
Senior Latin.	Senior Latin.
Junior and Intermediate Greek.	Junior and Intermediate Greek.
Junior Physics.	Junior Physics.
Logic.	Philosophy.
A Proficiency in	A Proficiency in
Junior and Intermediate Mathematics.	Junior and Intermediate Mathematics.
(2). A Distinction in	(2). Proficiencies in
General Chemistry.	Geology and
A Diploma in	Rhetoric and English Literature.
French.	(3). Graduation in
(3). Graduation in	Mathematics and
English and	Moral Philosophy.
Historical Science.

The student should seek competent advice, not only in relation to the
choice, but the order also of his studies. Upon this subject no fixed law
can be laid down equally applicable in all cases.