DEAN BACON TELLS WHY FRESHMEN FAIL

"Will the Freshman Class be reduced from 1024 to 585 so that all members may live in the Freshman Dormitories," a CRIMSON reporter asked Dean Bacon yesterday afternoon. "That is absurd," was the Dean's comment, "Equally foolish is the rumor that 50 per cent of the Freshman Class are on probation."

Continuing, Dean Bacon said, "As soon as possible after March 18, complete statistics will be issued by the Dean's office, showing the number of men whose probation has been closed and the number who have been placed on probation."

Dean Bacon, discussing the reasons why such a large number of men fall, said, "Too many preparatory schools prepare for College Entrance Examinations instead of for college."

Lose Sense of Proportion

"There are three distinct reasons for failing," he continued. "Losing a sense of proportion; that is, not realizing that studies come first; studies are forced to abdicate in favor of athletics, dances, and other outside activities." According to Dean Bacon, this failing is the most general.

"Lack of intellectual curiosity," was the second reason he gave for failures. "To this class belong those men who set their blades to cut off C--'s, and nothing more." He said that a student of this kind is a very great detriment to the college community, for he not only fails himself but also exerts a retarding influence on the men with whom he comes in contact. With him it is not a question of spending too much time on athletics or of wasting time in wholesale fashion, but of doing just enough work to pass and no more."

"Lack of mental equipment," was the third and final reason that Dean Bacon gave for flunking. He added that there are very few cases of failures due to this cause, mainly because of the mental equipment necessary to get into universities now. He concluded by saying that the stiffening of entrance requirements would probably eradicate failures of this nature in the future.