THE MAIL

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

I should like to call attention to certain points not dealt with in your recent editorial on Mr. Nichols' article in the current Atlantic Monthly.

Although the artisans, artists, scholars, and adventurers he mentions may only dull their fine points in college, how many will be unable to distinguish ragged edges from the unusual traits which make college a failure until they experience the temporary influence of college. A youth of eighteen or twenty who prides himself on being one of these types will not be convinced of his error, if it be an error, by merely doing as he wishes for a year before college. And better that he be a misfit for a few years in college and find himself at last, than that he be a misfit for life. What he judges to be strong points not to be chipped off by the college process of being rounded into a billiard ball may be gaps which college could fill in. Moreover, may not many a man with an outstanding trait foreign to college be given a chance there to make of himself something more than a mere strong point? Or may he not, perhaps painfully to be sure, gain a familiarity with the average so that he may be able to make and keep contacts with society and normal life? And must a college limit itself only to averages, or will both be out of the ordinary and the average in many cases be mutually benefited by contact? John Bliss '31.