Courses Offered at YCI
Today, York College of Pennsylvania is known for its nursing program, but it also offers over 70 other majors and minors to students. In the days of the York Collegiate Institute, however, the classes that students were allowed to take differed greatly from those at YCP today. There were four different “schools” of learning students could attend: classical, scientific, commercial, and ladies’ (First Catalogue, 1874). Each school was then broken up into years totaling up to four; over the course of four years, students took classes that applied to their schedules.
The classical and scientific schedules were the most similar to each other. Trigonometry, algebra, English grammar, Latin grammar, Greek, and arithmetic are all taught in both schedules, just within different years. The scientific schedule mainly focused on the sciences once the general education courses were completed. Classes included botany, moral science, mineralogy, organic chemistry, geology, and astronomy (First Annual Catalogue of the York Collegiate Institute). The commercial schedule of studies was the shortest schedule, with only two years of schooling required. This schedule also included the basic general education courses, as well as courses in penmanship and bookkeeping.
The ladies’ schedule included the general education requirements, but also added options for music, drawing, and painting. This is due to the fact that in 1873 it was still very difficult for a woman who wanted to pursue an education to do so. The ladies’ schedule also included elocution, which is a class on how to speak expressively. Girls were also offered a course in aesthetics to tie into their art- and leisure-based schedule (First Annual Catalogue).
The school was run by Reverend James McDougall, and he intended to follow through with his spiritual ways in terms of educating York’s youth. Classes that were also offered at the time to every student included Natural Theology and Evidences of Christianity (First Annual Catalogue). These two were very religiously-centered courses that differ strongly from what York College teaches now.