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Jeremiah Day &“The Yale Faculty Report of 1828”

Sarah Bernstein

+Jeremiah Day Connecticut native, born August,

1773 Graduated from Yale College class of

1795 Appointed as a tutor at Williams

College before taking a tutoring position at Yale in 1798

3 years later, elected to professorship of math and natural philosophy at Yale

1817 – succeeded Dr. Dwight as president of Yale 1846 (retired because of poor health)

Many published works include: “Algebra,” “Plane Trigonometry” (1816), Navigation and Surveying” (1817)

Jeremiah Day

+More on Jeremiah Day On his induction as President:

“Mr. Day having given to the President and Fellows satisfactory evidence of his religious belief and qualifications and assented to the Formula prescribed by this Board, the Corporation proceeded to induct him into office on the 23rd day of July at three o’clock in the afternoon.” needed to prove religious belief and accept curriculum to become President

Timothy Dwight V described him: "he was a wise disciplinarian, a judicious governor, a thorough and accurate

scholar, a valuable teacher, and a man of intelligent and penetrative mind.”

Excerpt from Day’s obituary: “For almost thirty years, under his direction, Yale prospered and grew strong

in students, resources and reputation. His learning was great and his discipline so kindly and partial that the students always regarded him with filial affection.” he was regarded as a remarkable and influential President

When Day became President, highest enrollment was ~300 students. While Day was President, this number grew to near 600 before Day retired. (1701-1976 Yale Book of Numbers)

+ Changes in Higher Education in the 19th century• Higher education was a controversial topic in the 19th

century.• Issues of controversy included :• Church vs. State control• Value of college vs. university• Classical curriculum vs. the principle of election

• The third issue became the focus of Jeremiah Day’s influential work “The Yale Faculty report of 1828” which was written in defense of the classical curriculum. (Yale was seen as the central stronghold of the conservative view.)

• This interest in change was brought on by the Industrial Revolution and increase of agriculture in the 1800s. Advocates of change wanted colleges to better prepare men for life: banking, farming, industry, etc. (i.e. VOCATIONAL education learn one trade)

• Yale report fought for the classical curriculum to create the “truly educated man”

+The Breakdown:

Part 1:1. Education = parental control; so that students would

behave well without supervision from home2. Mental discipline to make it through tough times 3. Exercise man’s mental facilities don’t just think about

WHY, but HOW?4. Proper character; make a man a gentleman

Part 2: Defense specifically of classical languages (Greek & Latin)

Mainly concerned with the process of education, not just the end result

The report had 2 sections

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Day (center) co-wrote the Yale Report with Benjamin Silliman, Sr. (Chemistry) and James L. Kingsley (Latin & Greek)

Authors’ Personal Influence

on the Documen

t

Kingsley taught Latin and Greek

Liberal education was used as a moral process to develop men into well rounded citizens author’s own background

Day, as President, would have known the bottom line in college management: survival & welfare of the institution

+A look inside:

The full document can be accessed here as a PDF: http://www.yale.edu/terc/collectiblesandpublications/specialdocuments/Historical_Documents/1828_curriculum.pdf

Or typed out here: Part 1

http://collegiateway.org/reading/yale-report-1828/

Part 2 http://collegiateway.org/reading/yale-report-1828/curriculum

Quotes: “Every thing throws light upon every thing” “It is a hazardous experiment, to act upon

the plan of gaining numbers first, and character afterwards”

“the study of the classics is useful, not only as it lays the foundations of a correct taste, and furnishes the student with those elementary ideas which are found in the literature of modern times, and which he no where so well acquires as in their original sources,—but also as the study itself forms the most effectual discipline of the mental faculties”

“Our object is not to teach that which is peculiar to any one of the professions; but to lay the foundation which is common to them all.”

“The two great points to be gained in intellectual culture, are the discipline and the furniture of the mind; expanding its powers, and storing it with knowledge…A commanding object… should be, to call into daily and vigorous exercise the faculties of the student. Those branches of study should be prescribed, and those modes of instruction adopted”

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“… the most influential document in American higher education in the first half of the nineteenth century”- Richard Hofstadter & Wilson Smith

- Pre 1960s view:- Time of stifling conservatism- Experimented too little

- Revisionist view:- Surprisingly innovative- Trying too much

Significance of this defense of liberal arts education

• Upon publication, report was instantly up for criticism became a public target for American college critics

• The report ultimately was not widely available

• Revived conflict/debate over liberal arts education and appropriate courses of study

• There was a resultant attempt to discredit study focused on discipline/mental training

• New fields and disciplines were integrated into the curriculum anyway

Contemporary Significance Modern/Lasting Significance

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Have times changed?

The faculty of Yale in 1828 were “well persuaded, that our students are not so deficient in intellectual powers as they sometimes profess to be…

“Faculties will resist new initiatives that are so large or so visible that failure could diminish the prestige of the institution or impair it’s ability to attract able students and talented professors.”-Derek Bok, Higher Learning (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988)

Yale remains a liberal arts college with many disciplines to round out education with specific distribution requirements

+Assessment of the writing of the reportElements that would have added to the argument:• Statistics on the number of

classes versus electives allowed in a course load

• Opinions of Yale students at the time

Tone/language of the piece:• Sincere• Defensive• Passionate• Persuasive

+Works Cited

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA081EF93E5F137B93C6AB1783D85F438684F9

http://inauguration.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Day,%20Jeremiah_PWJ.pdf

http://oir.yale.edu/1701-1976-yale-book-numbers

http://www3.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/yalerpt.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Jeremiah_Day_Theodore_Dwight_Woolsey_Benjamin_Silliman_Commencement_Day_1860.jpg

http://images.library.yale.edu/madid/oneItem.aspx?id=1772104&q=jeremiah%20day&q1=&q2=&qc1=&qc2=&qf1=&qf2=&qn=&qo=&qm=&qs=&sid=&qx=