MOBBED CLASSES

"Gentlemen, this is a calamity", said Professor Bliss Perry as he looked at the five hundred men who had assembled to take English 41; and the five hundred men agreed with him.

Time and time again we hear that the purpose of a college is to teach men to think. But it must be admitted that the majority of large courses let the student slip by with but little mental effort. The lecturer cannot but be impersonal, and many listen to him as they would to a speaker on Boston Common; with little attention and no thought. In a small course it is different. The student meets the professor personally, and has opportunity to discuss with him any point about which he is doubtful. Besides, he cannot but feel that the professor is talking to him intimately, instead of lecturer to four or five hundred practically unknown men. He begins to pay attention.

Where does the remedy lie? The college office cannot limit all courses to fifty. History 1 and Economics A will be big as long as they exist. Where there are sections, inexperienced section men and unequal cales of marking allow many barely to "get by."

The ideal remedy would be to have the professor take all the sections himself. This being out of the question could it not be arranged so that he might take every section once a month or so? In this way he would come into personal contact with all the students, and give to them an opportunity for question and discussion.