REVISING THE ADVISOR (II)

Saturday we discussed, at some length, the Student Advisor system and suggested two possible means of improving it. The second of these was that the advisors should be appointed before College opens. In support of this mention was made of the fact that the data in the records of the sub-Freshman is ordinarily sufficient for the College Office to determine what sort of an advisor he requires. No consideration, however, was given to the difficulty of selecting advisors before their Senior year has begun.

At first thought this may seem to be no difficulty at all; if the Committee can pick out suitable upperclassmen in the fall, one would think they can do it as easily the previous spring. But when we consider that in the spring what the academic standing of the prospective advisor the following fall will be is a matter of conjecture, we see that the problem is not so simple. For theoretically (although we hold this a matter of contention) advisors on probation are not at all to be desired.

To meet this difficulty, however, all that is required is a little more organization. Suppose the undergraduate committee in charge of selecting advisors were appointed in April by the Student Council. They could then make up a list of Seniors or Juniors whom they considered suitable. Of each man selected they would make a record on which they would indicate his age, his interests and the type of man whom he could advise. Furthermore they could select more men than would be required. Equipped with such records the College Office, with some degree of accuracy, could, during the summer allot Freshmen to these advisors, omitting those of the latter who had had difficulty with the final examinations.

It will be, of course, objected that this is a too mechanical method, not designed to meet individual cases. But even under the present system, with the Freshman Dean assisting in the work of appointment there can be very little regard for individual cases.

Finally, we have this further suggestion to offer. Would it not be possible for one or two members of the Undergraduate Committee to give some of their summer vacation to this work? With their personal knowledge of their classmates they would be of real assistance to the office and would to some extent prevent the appointment from becoming too haphazard.

Perhaps, in our enthusiasm for "organization," we have not remembered that it would require no small amount of work of the Undergraduate Committee, even without any of its members working in the summer. We feel, however, that there will be no difficulty here; despite the press of college activities the importance of this work ought to induce the men on the committee to give a little extra effort to it. And if, because of these extra-curriculum activities their last ounce of extra effort had already been expended, we would think it sufficient cause for some steps to be taken to decrease the demands of the extra-curriculum.