CLASS OF 1934 TO BE ADVISED UNDER REORGANIZED PLAN

The present Freshman dormitory advisory system will be expanded and changed for the Class of 1934, it was announced yesterday by Dean A. C. Hanford.

Under the new system the Freshman Class will be divided into small groups, each to be assigned to one of the resident proctors of the respective dormitories. The purpose of this arrangement is to enable the first year men to get advice upon their work in courses and to eradicate individual difficulties that will arise. In order to insure the success of this project these advisers have been picked with especial attention to their adaptability for such work.

Commenting on this idea before it was decided upon, Dean Hanford said in a recent number of the Advocate: "Notwithstanding the work of the Freshman advisers and instructors in elementary courses, there are always a number of willing and capable students who find the first few months of college very difficult, who fail to plan their time properly, do not know how to take notes or to study effectively and finding themselves groping in the dark and becoming discouraged. Oftentimes a suggestion or two will set such a student back on the right track. In many cases the suggestion will come from one of the instructors or from the adviser. But many of the classes are so large, and oftentimes the adviser is not at hand the moment the student needs assistance. In order to meet the situation there have been appointed for the present year in each of the Freshman Halls, one or more instructors in Freshman courses or graduate students as special dormitory advisers. These men will hold special conference hours on certain evenings to give advice to Freshmen. It should be borne in mind, however, that the dormitory advisers are not tutors nor coaches."

Those who will fill these positions next year are: Sterling Dow '25. Instructor in the department of History: S. E. Gleason '27, Instructor and Tutor in the department of History: C. A. Pendar 2L; James Ried 1L; C. Van Tyne '29, at present an instructor at Groton School: W. R. Harper '30; G. M. Ferguson '26, at present instructor in History at the University of Maine: A. R. Sweezy '29; and W. J. Bender '27.

This plan is but a step toward a general improvement of the Freshman year which is to be carried out while the House Plan is still in the formative stage. When the Freshmen are moved into the Yard other changes are to be made to improve the general instruction of the first year courses.

Commenting on this aspect of the situation, Dean Hanford wrote the following: "Although the process of transition has been made somewhat more gradual and effective by the developments just described, it would be folly to assume that all of the difficulties have been solved or that readjustments of machinery and methods are alone sufficient. It is necessary that the schools and colleges give further thought to the subject. On' the point of the college it is necessary that the quality of instruction of beginning classes be still further improved by the use of a large number of experienced teachers, and that instructors be encouraged to take a sympathetic attitude toward the men during the first six weeks."