Contemporaneous History.

The universal opinion seems to be that a course in contemporaneous history would be of almost incalculable value to students in general, but especially to those who intend to make journalism their profession. The number of men who intend to devote their lives to journalism is by no means small; there are no technical schools for journalistic training, such schools would indeed be impossible from the nature of the profession. But now when our newspapers are recruited largely from college bred men, it is no more than right that colleges should add all in their power to prepare men for their profession.

At first glance the difficulties in the way of establishing a course for the study of current events seem great, but on examination they seem to be at least not insurmountable. The work which would fall upon the instructors would of course, be considerable. But the work should by no means be confined to one man. The course should be divided into several parts, one instructor should lecture on English and continental affairs, another on American affairs, and a third on the economic aspects of events. The labor in this way would be greatly divided. Each instructor would lecture once a week, with the privilege of omitting a lecture should there not be sufficient material for a fruitful discussion. Instructors in other departments of the college, whenever anything of especial interest happened in the branch in which they taught, might take an hour to explain the discovery or invention, whatever it might be. Thus the interest of the students would greatly be aroused in every day happenings, and we would have enthusiasm where now we have indifference.

It would probably not be advisable to allow the course to be taken as a regular. It would be a course which men interested in the work would wish to take throughout the four years, especially by those who intended to enter journalism or politics. Not much study beyond a careful perusal of the daily newspapers would be required, as it might become to be regarded as a "snap" if it could be taken as a regular course. It would, however, furnish an excellent basis for theses and forensic work, and in that way would have a direct bearing on a man's regular college work.