FRESHMAN ELECTIVES.

IT has been urged that the introduction of the elective system into the upper classes has proved so successful that the question arises as to the expediency of introducing Freshman electives. The question may arise, but can it not be easily answered? It is not as to whether the Freshman is capable of choosing a course of study which is best suited to the development of his mind; it is rather a question whether he will do it or not. The standard of admission is raised to fit a man for a higher and a more systematic mode of thought and study, and the required studies of the first year are made as general as possible, to enable one to choose the course of study which suits him best. There are very few, if any, fitting schools in which all branches are taught as well as in a university like Harvard. A man may come to college with the impression that he is fitted for a mathematical course of study, because he was, perhaps, under a good instructor in Arithmetic, and stood well in his class. But this does not prove conclusively that he has a mind capable of mastering the higher mathematics; nor, again, is it reasonable to suppose that one should elect the classics because he could at school repeat the whole of the Latin Grammar. We need the drill and training of at least one year of required studies to fully make up our minds in regard to our future course. Men in college cannot always decide what they want, as is shown by the frequent change of electives. How much greater, then, would be the dissatisfaction, if in their first year they could choose their own studies. It is by no means a vain fear that the subjects which prove to be "soft" would be too readily elected in order to escape more difficult, though perhaps far more important studies. And this may happen, not through any desire to lessen work, but by an imperfect knowledge of the subjects and their importance. There seems no objection to giving, at least, a choice to Freshmen, as, for instance, of different authors; but even this, on consideration, may appear as of doubtful expediency. A class entering college should be in all respects a unit, and there should be among its members as much emulation in one study as in another.

X.