DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

In deciding to allow entrance credit in subjects which do not conform exactly with the College Board Requirements, the University of California adopts an excellent solution to a perennial problem. Unable to change the rigidity of the Board system, California follows other colleges in declaring its emancipation from this restrictive mechanism.

Although the general clamor against the narrowing influence of College Board Examinations on school curricula has been fully justified, some colleges have been less rigorous than is often supposed in their adherence to Board standards. In special instances Princeton has granted credit for work in non-theoretical music; through the New Plan of admission Harvard, Yale, and other universities allow considerable latitude in the choice of subjects presented for entrance.

Schools cannot provide the best educational opportunities, as schoolmasters continually explain, if they are straitjacketed by college admission requirements. The entrance examination system by its very nature can never be really flexible, but colleges can neutralize its restrictive influence by allowing credit for subjects outside its narrow range. By its recent decision California joins a number of Eastern colleges in taking a liberal attitude on the question. This stand indicates that colleges are recognizing more completely what they can do to offset limitations which a strictly interpreted examination system places on secondary schools.