HIGHER EDUCATION. 
OPENING ADDRESS. 
BY THE CHAIRMAN, DANIEL C. GILMAN, LL.D., PRESIDENT OF THE JOHNS 
HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 
It is fair to presume that an intelligent foreigner, like Professor von 
Holst, now one of our colleagues ; Professor Bryce, the most philosoph- 
cal observer of American society since De Tocqueville (not even except- 
ng Francis Lieber) ; or Professor Levasseur, the accomplished member 
»f the Institute of France, now visiting this country, if he were asked his 
impressions respecting the state of higher education in the United States 
»f America, would reply that the public show an amount of interest in 
1niversities and colleges unequalled, and perhaps unapproached, in Eng- 
land, France, or Germany. If he were asked for particulars we might 
find that his impression was not wholly derived from the notices that 
appear in the public journals, nor from the increased attendance in our 
halls of learning, nor from frequented conferences like this, but from the 
readiness with which the people in many of the States tax themselves for 
the support of seminaries of learning, and from the munificence with 
which private individuals contribute to the endowment of old and new 
foundations. Yet this friendly observer would doubtless add, if he felt 
at liberty to speak with candor, that American ideas in respect to higher 
sducation are undeveloped. The diversity of scope, methods, purposes, 
degrees, names, is confusing. No established churches exercise either 
legal or traditional control. No central, national authority has any right 
of superintendence, oversight, or inspection. Each separate State has 
its own organization. There is not even a consensus as to the province 
»f the ¢ State universities.” For example, compare Michigan and New 
York. Where such institutions are established, other universities may 
dourish side by side. Academic titles have no significance unless the 
source is known from which they are derived. Anybody who chooses 
may call himself “a professor,” and the only penalty that he incurs is the 
gentle rebuke of his neighbors. The word university has often been 
applied to institutions of the humblest character ; for example, it was 
a title frequently bestowed upon the schools for the emancipated blacks, 
established in the decade just following the civil war. Indeed, if the 
intelligent foreigner were to seek, either in our usages or in our educational 
literature. for the received idea of a university, he would often be amused. 
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