THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The beginning of the final examination period brings to the fore an inconsistency and an injustice which has been evident since the Reading Period was first established. Ostensibly instituted for original and supplementary study, and in the main used for such work, the Reading Period also serves two other purposes no less admirable. It provides a brief period for intensive review with the days free from the interrupting routine of lectures; it also presents an opportunity for one or two, or a few, or many days of leisure.

Both of these secondary features, naturally inherent in a space of time given for original work preceding an examination, have importance and are of value to the student in determining the best organization of his time and labor. It is not, therefore, arguing for a liberty from the misuse of a liberty to urge that some more nearly equal system may be enjoyed by all students alike.

Freshman courses, scientific courses, and a number of others are excluded from the Reading Period. And men enrolled in these miss the opportunity for the good use or misuse of their time. There are sound good reasons for maintaining lectures throughout the year in some courses and some fields. But it is not demanding too much to urge that a brief period of free choice be left before both examination periods. Whether for good use or for ill use, it would be just dispensation for all classes to cease at the end of the week preceding final examinations, instead of on the day preceding.