THOUGHTS ON THINKING

Two new introductory courses have been recommended by a committee of the American Association of University Professors, to take a place in the curriculum of every college. The one is to teach freshmen to "think", so that they may more easily become accustomed to the University methods of lectures and individual research; and the second is to give them a general scientific background of "The Nature of the World and of Man". Both are to be prescribed for all first year men.

A suggestion such as this sounds much more startling to men in the University than to others, for in fourteen colleges, including Princeton and Williams, courses of much the same type have already been given and proved satisfactory. The Association is basing its report rather on experimental cases than on a novel suggestion of its own, and it is hoping to make easier a difficult step in each student's progress--the transition from preparatory school to college. It is bearing in mind the case of the student who passed his entrance examinations with honor marks, and then received four E's and a D during his first term in college; as well as the more general case of those who fail to "find themselves" in college, and so come to the conclusion that it is not worth the time spent.

This problem has been recognized in the University, with the result that such general introductory courses as English A, History 1, and English 28 have been given. Further effort has been spent in giving personal attention to the freshman and in preparing him gradually for the work of advanced courses. Even now a general course in science is under consideration, which would give an introduction to the field, although not of so inclusive a sort as that proposed by the course on the "Nature of the World and of Man". But "Thinking A" has never been seriously considered.

If such a course is really necessary, perhaps it could better be given in the last year of preparatory school work; for the duty of making the change easier should fall at least as much on the preparatory school as on the college. With a co-operation between the two--better preparation from the schools, and more care from the colleges to introduce the student gradually--the difficulty will largely vanish.