Theses Vs. Bluebooks

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

There has been, lately, a most laudable sentiment of dissatisfaction with the present system of rating a student's ability wholly on his power to write a good blue-book.

It is characteristic of those who like to think for themselves that they will try to express their ideas. If there is no opportunity savd on an examination, they will try it there, usually with disastrous conseqnences to themselves. The more interested they are in the subject, the more likely they are to go off on a tangent, and put too much time on the phase that has especially drawn their attention. The result is a very lopsided blue-book.

This is particularly true of large lecture courses, such as English 72, where there is no contact whatsoever with the professor or instructors.

At least a partial remedy for this would be the assignment of a thesis, optional if need be, that would be equal with the examination in determining the final grade. Surely slow, careful thought, extending over some period of time, should be considered as important as the hurried, fragmentary lottings of an examination. Only in a thesis can the mass of detail that is bound to accumulate be properly considered and used to best advantage. And, most important of all, it is only in a thesis that a student can do more than throw back the lectures and the reading. (Name withheld by request.)