AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE HONOR SYSTEM.

Because of the recent discussion as to the practicability of the honor system at Harvard, an incident which took place in Economics 6b last Saturday throws a new ray of light on a timely subject. After the question requiring a half-hour paper was written on the board, Professor Gay announced that he would give the honor system a trial. The class which crowds Harvard 6 was then left without the usual proctor supervision. The result was only as the advocates of the honor system would expect. Not the least sign of dishonesty was detected by a few students interested in the outcome of the experiment. Several deductions occur to us.

In a section meeting, which, in the past, has been no exception to the rule that weekly tests are rife with dishonesty, the honor system has eliminated practically every trace of underhanded methods. The opponents of the reform must admit that this is something of a gain. Mechanical, as they say the means are, they cannot deny that the end is reached. Better so-called mechanical methods than the former prevalent cheating.

Again, and finally, this incident goes far to refute one of the chief arguments against the honor system; namely, that there would be great opposition to its institution. Could there be any heartier voluntary consent to a new system than was given last Saturday by such a representative course as Economics 6b? We believe that the time has come for a serious consideration of the honor system for Harvard.