This paper examines Thomas Clap's college curriculum idea, comparing two concepts concerning curriculum in the Yale Report of 1828:"mental discipline"and "mental furniture."
Previous studies noted that the idea of the college curriculum or strategy in the Yale Report was common for antebellum colleges. The report divided the function of education into mental discipline, which aims to expand faculties of the mind by obtaining knowledge, and mental furniture, which aims to store knowledge in the mind. Furthermore, the report emphasized that mental discipline was the preferential role of the college.
However, Clap's idea of a college curriculum differed from that stated in the Yale Report. Clap thought the aim of the college was to educate ministries, and the learning of ancient languages, arts, and sciences plays the roles of, in the words of the Yale Report, both mental discipline and mental furniture. Further, Clap's thoughts regarding mental discipline may have been affected by Calvin's idea of education, and not by faculty psychology, which was used as a rhetorical strategy in the Yale Report.
This fact may indicate the need to reinterpret the report with regard to two points: 1) the theory of the Yale Report was not a common idea or strategy for antebellum colleges, but this may have emerged later; and 2) Part II of the report in particular may be evaluated as more important than acknowledged in previous literature, because James L. Kingsley, one of its author, was a specialist in the history of New England, and his mention may reflect the college's history. Moreover, there may be some conflict between his theory and that of Jeremiah Day, who authored Part I of the report.
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