Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/833

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757

ARTS


757


ARTS


dorum. In addition to the disputation, the cere- mony of Determination consisted in tlie student's putting on the special cap worn by those who had determined", and talcing his seat in their midst. In the celebrated Bull of Gregory IX, "Parens Scientiarum ", issued in 1231, we find the term liachi'Uarii applied to those who were pursuing their studies for the Mastership, while helping to teach. The term was very likely taken over from the tiuilds, in which the l'"rencli word Bachdier was applied, at the time, to a young man who was an apprentice. The academic condition which the word was cniploycd to di'sigiiate involved the idea of an apprenticeship in teaching. The later academic term liacralaurius (spelled linccalariux at first) was probably a corrupt latinized form of the same word.

The length of the course in Arts in the medieval universities varied considerably according to time and place. The statutes framed for the University of Paris, in 1215, by Robert de Cour(^on, the papal legate, fixed the minimum length of the course at six years, twenty years of age being required for its completion and the reception of the licen.se. Later statutes fixed the minimum age for determination at fourteen years. At Paris the time between ma- triculation and determination was usually from one to two years. The tendency at Paris, and on the Continent, was towards early determination. The extreme effect of this tendency is seen in the fact that the Baccalaureate eventually disappeared al- together from Continental universities. At Oxford and Cambridge, on the other hand, the tendency was towards late determination. At Paris the age for entrance was about thirteen, and for determination about fifteen. At Oxford the boy entered at about the age of fourteen, and passed four years before being allowed to determine. The English Bachelor was thus several years older than the French or Ger- man Bachelor. The custom of late determination at Oxford and Cambridge which was largely due to the development of the Knglish granunar-scliool sj-stem, furnishes an hi.-storicMl explanation of the fact that the American college graduate to-day is several years older than the French Bachelor, or the Ger- man student on finishing the (li/mnanium. American colleges having adopted the English system in this respect. The studies leading to the Baccalaureate varied naturally with the length of time required. Those prescribed at Oxford in 1267 were as follows:

1. The Old LoRic; Porph>Ty. "IsaRoge". the "Categoria^ " un<l " De Interpretatione" of .\ristotle, and the "Sex Principia" of Gilbert de la I'orr^c, twice; the Losical Works of Uoethius (except "Topics", book IV). once.

2. The New Logic: Aristotle, "Priora Analytica ", "Topica", " De Sophisticis Elenchis ", twice; "Pos- teriora Analytica ". once.

3. Grammar: Priscian. " De Construct ionibus ", twice: Donatus, " Barbarismus ", once.

3. Or. in place of Grammar. Natural Philosophy: Aristotle. " Physica ", "Do AnimA ", " De Genera- tione et Corruptione ".

4. To have "responded" " De Sophismatibus" for a year, or to have heard the " Posteriora Analy- tica" twice instead of once.

(Ansley, "Munimenta Academica ". 35. 36.

Rash.iall. "Universities of Europe in the Middle

Ages", II. Pt. II, 455.1 It is interesting to note that alternative or elective studies were allowed at Oxford, to some extent, at this early date.

The influence of the humanistic movement of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries upon the A.B. curriculum was shown in the partial replacement of the Aristotelcan courses by the Latin and Greek classics, although the theological controversies and civil wars springing from the Reformation went far towards neutralizing the etTect of humanism upon the univcrsitie-^. The Jesuits, however, carried for- ward the movement, and were long noted as the leaders in classical education throughout Europe.


The development of the system of "colleges" at Oxford and Cambridge, contributed greatly to pre- serve the effectiveness and popularity of the tradi- tional Arts course in England. The immense addi- tion to the stock of human knowledge in modern times, together with the multiplication of distinct branches of science suitable for educational purposes have profoundly affected the B.accalaureate curricu- lum. (Jne effect b seen in the development of the principle of election of studies. In Germany, side by side with the Clymnasitim, there are now the Heal- (pjmnasium and the Reatschule. In France, the l.i/cie offers a modern, as well as a chissical curric- ulum in Arts. Oxford and Cambridge have in- stituted other curricula parallel with the ancient A.B. course; while in America electivism ranges, through many gradations, from the system of two or more parallel, though fixed curricula to the extremely elastic .system of Harvard, where the student makes up his own curriculum, by selecting the particular studies he wills. Another effect of the growth of knowledge is shown in the substitution of text-book teaching for the lecture system prevalent dviring the Middle Ages. Still another elTect, perhaps, is disclos- ing itself in the movement lately inaugurated in America for the shortening of the Baccalaureate cur- riculum. It is no longer possible, during the years in college or in the university, to cover the whole range of acquired knowledge in the liberal arts, as the en- deavour wiis to do in the Middle Ages. After leaving college, moreover, and finishing his professional course in the university or technical school, the student is apt to find that there are still years of hard apprenticeship awaiting him before he can attain to such a mastership in his profession as will enable him to gain a respectable livelihood. Some of the largest American colleges now permit the Baccalaureate to be taken in three years. (See also Arts, The Faculty of; Arts, Master of; and I'ni-

VF.RSITIE.S.)

Of primary importance for the history of the development of the Faculty of Arts, and the degrees of Bachelor and Mas- ter of Arts, are: Dknifle, fhartularium Univirntutis Paritien- tin (Paris, 1889-97), and Enlttrhung der Unitertilalen dtl MiUtlnltrrs bit zum 1400 (Berlin. 1885); Zahnckk, Die deulachen Unirrrtitiitm im Mitttlaltcr (Leipsig, 1857); Paci^- HKN, Oeschurhte des gdehrten Vnterrichta auf dm deuUchen .Schulrn und VnivrriiiViten (I,eip«ig, 1885); Die deuUchm Vnirerifimtm, compiled for the Kducational Exhibit in Chi- cago. 1803; AN8TKY. Munimenta Academica (Oxford. 1888); Uashdai.i,. The Univertitiet of Europe in the Middle Aget (Oxford. 1895); Lyte. Ilistaru of the Univ. of Oxford (London, 188G); Mui.l.lNGFR, Hittoru of the Vniremitji of Cambridge (Cambridge. 1873-84): Education in the United States (com- piletl for the Paris Exposition, 1886), I; Annual Reportn of the Comm. of Education (Washington); The Educational Re- view. For the work of the Jesuits, .ScnwicKF-nATH, Jeauii Education (.St. I^iuis. 1903), and HuoHKa. Loyola and the Ed. SjjsU-m of the Jetuils (New York. 1892) arc the best in English. Brother Azarias. Educational Eg»nj/a and New- man, //tXoncoi .S*-^(<:Ae» have their value; as also has Laurie, Rite and Conetitution of UnivertUiee (London, 18SG).

J. A. Burns.

Arts, The Facultt of, one of the four traditional divisions of the teaching body of the university. It is impossible to fix the date of the origin of autono- mous faculties in the early medieval universities, be- cause, as Denifle has observed, the division did not take place all at once, or as the result of deliberate action, but came about gradually, as the result of a spontaneous inner development. A.s a matter of fact, the formation of faculties sprang from the same academic impulse that gave rise to the universities themselves. The mother universities of Europe were those of Paris and Bologna. The germ of the University of Paris was the voluntary i».s.sociation of the teaching Masters, after the fashion of the universally prevalent guild-formation. At Bologna, it was the association of the students that gave rise to the corporate university. In both places it was but natural, and, as it seems to us now, inevitable, that the teachers in a common field of