THE NEW BUILDING

In this issue of the CRIMSON appears the report of the Scholarship Committee of the Student Council. It is not our purpose here to discuss this report in detail; it is in itself a complete unit, containing a true analysis of the present situation, some extremely valuable suggestions, and the arguments in favor of the changes it recommends. The Committee is to be congratulated upon its very excellent work.

We hope that this work has not been done in vain. We hope that these measures will be put into very immediate effect. It will be noted that, while the College is now carrying on a most important experiment in the institution of tutorial work and divisional examinations on a broad scale, the report deals almost entirely with matters other than the examinations themselves. This is most fitting. For the divisional examinations have shown that their success as well as their failure is entirely dependent on what has gone before. Perhaps the most important single lesson that they are teaching is that the acquisition of knowledge by and for itself is fundamental--candidates are coming to realize that they must really know their subject. But these examinations have not been able yet to require real ability to make use of that knowledge, as the report shows.

In any review of the conditions that lie in back of the system as it has been exposed by the divisionals, the place to start is with the Freshman year. Inasmuch as the Freshmen are isolated, their adjustment to the College is slower than might otherwise be the case; and it is more difficult to help them by contact with those who know what the College is and can tell them. It is unfortunately true that the majority of courses that the Freshmen take are not those in which they are thrown into very close touch with the real teachers. Speaking in a manner to include the whole Freshman instruction as such, it is not as good as it ought to he. Concrete suggestions on such a large subject, and within such a small space, are not easily made; but there is one point of contact which is not being realized to the full; the proctors. The increasing success of the Senior Advisor system shows the latent possibilities in work of this type; and the proctor's duty should fall along the same lines. Another almost insuperable difficulty in dealing with Freshman classes now is their tremendous size.

Sophomore year is also open to criticism. The Sophomore Dean has more disciplinary work than the Freshman Dean. The lack of interest in studies, the malproportioned emphasis on outside activities, which are inherited from Freshman year, reach their full growth here. It is the year of awakening that the Freshman year ought to be; a year of a change of attitude; it is the time when the Freshman mistakes are atoned for--sometimes forcibly; and the time when the undergraduate first discovers that he is actually in College.

The results of this change of attitude are everywhere apparent. Which may be proved by the fact that most Seniors look back upon their last two rather than their first two years as the most pleasant and profitable ones in their course. This cursory review of the situation shows that the great aim ought to be to get hold of the student sooner than is done now--attract his interest and make him recognize his own potentialities.

Mr. Whitman's suggestions all point toward this end. They alone, if adopted, would have a very good influence; and form a stable foundation upon which to raise the new building. The essence of the whole plan is, as has been said time and again, contact and freedom. The tutorial system is in various stages of development in all departments that have the general examinations except that of Ancient and Modern Languages; it is not now practicable to have it there. But it will come--and then in all departments there will be the problem of coordinating its work with that of the courses. Eventually this should result in a possibility of substituting for courses, reading with one's tutor. This can be begun at the point where it is seen that work of this sort will prove of more value than regular course work; which is dependent upon the quality of the tutorial staff.

The emphasis placed upon marks must be reduced. They do not mean very much now--witness the two cases in one department where one candidate whose record had been composed of fifty percent D's was given Distinction because of exceptional work in his general examination, while another whose grades were of the highest failed to pass. Marks will mean something only when they cease to be measured by the quantity of verbal backwater from lectures and text-books given in the blue-books. Qualitative utilization of knowledge must go hand in hand with the ability to assimilate facts.

The more effective the contact between students and faculty, and the sooner the realization of the true purpose of study, the more freedom can be given with impunity. The extent to which undergraduates are interested in their college work, because they recognize its value to themselves and not because of "two C's and a D", furnishes a good measure by which to judge the success of a college.

We should like to look forward to developments of educational method that would make it impossible for the Freshman not to see his opportunities; that would, by inspirational teaching on a broad scale, instill into a very large number of students a genuine appreciation of college work (Mr. Whitman's suggestion of "visiting" lectures announced in the CRIMSON is a step in this direction): that would grant more freedom to all students, and reward candidates for Honors and Distinction by granting them even greater freedom; that would tend rather to the humanitarian conception of a college than to the present machine-like theory that is so prevalent. In fine, a college that would breed into its students that indefinable thing called culture, which implies knowledge, the ability to use that knowledge--and character.