"TIME 18 ITSELF AN ELEMENT"

Owing to its extraordinary length, the midyear period at Harvard stands out in open contrast to that of most colleges, a point brought out in a recent Yale News. For its own purposes, Harvard has arranged such a schedule as is most expedient in its own particular case. The vast number of examinations and the three hour duration of each one are facts which combine to justify the period of two weeks and a half. Furthermore, it is firmly believed that a plan which involves more than a single examination in one day defeats its own purpose when the physical strain is taken into account. Yale, on the other hand, in waiving all such considerations, subjects students to the possibility of enduring as many as four two hour examinations in the span of a day. When the Harvard system is criticized by someone viewing it from outside, the principal objection is usually based on the question of wasted time. Harvard meets this problem by taking into consideration the length of the various vacations: in almost every instance these are shorter than the corresponding ones at other colleges. It is a case then of using time to better advantage.

Whether or not this method in operation at Harvard bears immediate fruit in the so-called "brain tests" is an impossible question to determine; results are likely to differ with each individual student. If, however, this is in any way likely, as the Yale News seems to believe, the Harvard system would bear watching during the course of the next few years.