LOOSENING THE BELT

Schoolmastering is often a stronghold of conservatism, but not for Dr. Samuel S. Drury, Rector of St. Paul's School. In words characterized by enlightenment and far-sightedness, he has declared the educational systems imposed on boys too inflexible. He believes that the brighter individuals should be allowed time to enjoy the advantages of foreign travel as a part of the curriculum.

Dr. Drury's idea is equally significant when applied to college life. If learning is the main purpose of the under-graduate years for many intellectually- minded students, one University campus can hardly be the best source of all the subjects which interest them. A foreign language, for example, is often a dull affair in a section meeting. Yet when spoken in a proper European manner as a natural part of everyday existence, it becomes alive and inspiring. The best of college does not provide nearly so wide and opportunity for acquiring facility in pronunciation and conversation. In general the same principle applies to other fields as well. The wealth of material in the Louvre should be a welcome supplement to the limited resources of the Fogg Museum, where Perry prints are used in lieu of the great originals.

A scheme for making college residence less inflexible is not too visionary to become an actuality. The price of an average tuition would be ample means for one who wished to study abroad, and to gain European culture at first hand. Learning would tend to become less a matter of routine than of pleasure and the benefits of travel would be realized by a greater number of individuals. Education is too large a problem to be entered entirely within any single institution.