Sharing Student Scholarship Online: Curriculum at Baylor, 1900-1920

For the first five weeks of the spring 2013 semester, we’re putting up teasers about the fascinating Baylor history that Higher Education and Student Affairs students analyzed and shared on the class’ blog. Last week we explored students and student organizations at Baylor. This week we’re looking at Curriculum at Baylor, with topics ranging from external and internal influences on the courses offered at Baylor, how faculty and student organizations influenced curriculum, and the changing role of Latin in a Baylor student’s education. Did you know that…

HESA Baylor History blog

  • A bill introduced in 1919 could have ended the teaching of German at Baylor? In the wake of World War I, a Texas senator tried to pass bills forbidding the teaching of the language in any Texas schools, public or private. (He did not succeed.) Learn more about the various groups that influenced or attempted to influence Baylor’s curriculum in 1900-1920.
  • The courses offered in Baylor’s Oratory department were affected by student interests as reflected by student organizations. (For example, the literary societies we mentioned last week emphasized debate, and the oratory curriculum was adjusted to hone student speeches from “speaking pieces” to “masterpieces.”) Read more about the synergistic give-and-take between faculty curriculum development and student organizations.
  • In 1905, prospective Baylor students had to have taken four Latin classes to be considered for admission. By 1920, no Latin was required at all for graduation. Discover how the emphasis on Latin and classical education declined at Baylor.

We hope you’ll explore these blog posts and enjoy the benefits of the HESA students’ research and scholarship. If you’re inspired to dig deeper, most of their sources can be found in the University Archives within The Texas Collection and in our digitized materials available online in the Baylor University Libraries Digital Collections.

Background on this project: Students in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) masters program have taken on the challenge of creating original scholarship that adds to what is known about Baylor’s history between 1900 and 1920. As part of Dr. Nathan Alleman’s Foundations and History of Higher Education course, students were grouped under the five class themes: curriculum, finance, students/student groups, access, and religion. In collaboration with Texas Collection archivists and librarians, students mined bulletins, newspapers, correspondence, and other primary resources as they researched their topics. Final papers have now been posted on a University-hosted EduBlog site and grouped by their particular sub-topic so that patrons, researchers, and other interested persons could benefit from these students’ work. This is the first installment of an annual accumulating project–please visit again for future installments.

2 Comments

  • Barry Kidd

    January 23, 2013 at 12:03 pm Reply

    As I like history and learning new things I think perhaps I’ll have a look at some of the links provided over the next few days.

    Thank you for sharing and have a great day,

    Barry

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