MEN BEFORE ENGINEERS

The still unsettled question of the future housing of undergraduates in the Engineering School hangs fire. When it was finally decided that engineering students would not become regular members of the new Houses those who had already been accepted were allowed to take part this year. No solution has yet been acted upon; the last definite statement asserted that the House Plan would be limited to the College alone.

The reason for this decision was that the House Plan is the culmination of a number of steps designed to present to the student a fuller opportunity of gaining for himself a rounded education. Toward this goal the limited elective system, the examination system, the tutorial system set the beacons. The lights have been turned against members of the Engineering School because such methods have never been used in this field.

Now, within the last few days the distinction has been promulgated that the House Plan is in no way an instrument for the bettering of course organization or opportunity. The University will still function as the meeting place for educational concentration. As the curriculum changes of the past two decades have sought to provide for the intellectual urge for learning, so the House Plan is hoped to foster the social adaptation of the community.

Granted that the Engineering School is not as well fitted for the curriculum revisions experienced by the College, it is as suited for the reception of whatever social benefits may accrue from the House Plan. The complete lack of contact between student and faculty in the Engineering School, the complete disassociation of knowledge and its counterpart virtues gained from a fuller appreciation of human values, above all, the intensely practical nature of the work done by these students suggests that the need of such an instrument as the House Plan is still more necessary there than in the college.