The name is absent

Middle Ages and Renaissance 231

University colleges, in Europe, were originally endowed
residential halls, established by wealthy donors in order to
provide free board and lodging for a select number of stu-
dents, especially graduate students in theology. Often there
were subsidiary motives of providing for the donor’s kin-
dred, and ensuring a perpetual saying of masses for his soul.
Almost all the European universities at one time or another
had colleges founded within them; but in most universities
before 1500 these colleges took care of a very small pro-
portion of the students. At first the colleges did not concern
themselves with teaching; but as the medieval system of in-
struction by regent masters declined, something had to be
done to take its place. On the Continent the solution was the
founding of professorial chairs. In England, wealthy bene-
factors preferred to found colleges rather than chairs ; and in
absence of other instruction, the older fellows (members of
the college) had to teach the younger ones as well as study
themselves. Magdalen College, Oxford, began in 1458 the
tutorial system still followed in English universities, and
lately revived in some of ours. This college invited under-
graduates to become “commoners,” i.e., boarders in the
college commons ; and the fellows, who were supported from
the college revenues, took charge of the commoners’ instruc-
tion for the B.A. degree. After that they were turned loose
to study by themselves. Harvard was founded on just that
basis. The College Corporation consisted of a president,
treasurer, and five fellows, of whom one was probably in-
tended to be a salaried researcher, and the other four to take
charge of undergraduate studies besides studying divinity
themselves. The college fellows were all very young, recent
graduates themselves. It was not until 1766 that the teaching
fellows at Harvard specialized; before that each of them
took a freshman class in charge, and taught it every subject

<<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   >>

More intriguing information