Columbia the academic courses are given six days in the week, three hours in the morning, from nine till twelve for lectures and recitations, and three hours in the afternoon for laboratory work, making a total of thirty-six possible hours of attendance. In practice, however, this full amount is not exacted of any individual student. As a result of the investigations of the committee, the time spent by mining students in preparation averages fifteen hours per week, varying in the different years from a minimum of fourteen hours to a maximum of sixteen hours. The total time required of each student in the mining course, including preparation hours, ranges from forty-two to fortyeight hours, with an average of about forty-six hours per week. On the basis of four years of twenty-eight weeks and forty-six hours per week, the total time is 5,152 hours, to which should be added twenty-four weeks of summer work, at, say, fifty hours, or 1,200 hours for the three vacations, making a total of 6,352 hours as the time required of the average student. This is distributed as follows: Mechanical engineering, including power and machines... 326 168 *The actual time is 6,392 hours-or an average of 46 hours per week. Comparing this in detail with the distribution of time suggested by your committee I find that no time is given to language, which at Columbia is required for admission. The time given to mathematics is about one third that suggested by your committee; for the same reason, a large proportion of the preliminary mathematics being required for entrance. The time given to chemistry is nearly double that suggested by the committee, and perhaps some saving is here practicable. Time given to mineralogy and geology is about thirtythree per cent. larger than that suggested. The time given to surveying is over seventy per cent. more than the committee's allowance. Both theoretical instruction and field practice in railroad engineering is by us considered essential for mining engineers* and about the same time is allotted to it as proposed by your committee for civil engineers. The allowance of time for hydraulic engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and chemical engineering agree closely with the suggestions of your committee. The same is true of the time given to mining engineering, ore dressing and metallurgy, which in the aggregate is not far from the time allotted by your committee's report. * Mining engineers are frequently called upon to locate and construct wagon roads and short lines of railroad for mining purposes. They have also to locate lines for pipes and ditches involving similar problems in field and office. With the exception of the above noted it will be seen that the distribution of time suggested by your committee corresponds fairly well with that adopted at Columbia. PROFESSOR F. W. SPERR: I should like to submit this revised schedule for mining engineering courses covering 7,200 hours as prescribed in the report of the committee. REVISED SCHEDULE FOR MINING ENGINEERING. |