ORAL ENTRANCE EXAMS

The following editorials were all written by members of the present Senior Class and were handed in by them on the Senior life blanks to the secretary of the class. The parts printed below were selected at random from all the blanks sent in. The Crimson does not necessarily endorse all the opinions expressed below and is not printing them as a symposium of the thought of the Class of 1931 toward Harvard College but as an endeavor to call attention to some of the random ideas of men who have spent four years at Harvard.

The first problem that confronts us at Harvard is, of course, the question of who should be admitted to residence. Education cannot make scholars out of hoboes or active leaders out of pedants. At present a man can come here by accumulating fifteen points on "old-plan" examinations that have been spread out over a long period of time: sheer memory work will get him to college. Or he can come if he passes four "new-plan" examinations, or by standing well up in his class at the secondary school. In other words, a man who has done his work at school as most boys do can drop into Harvard with no chimes or clatter, and frequently with little definite knowledge of why he came. He may be completely sincere but completely ignorant of the moral and intellectual stress that will be imposed upon him. He has no knowledge of taking notes and no idea how to go about the business of assimilating vast quantities of information. Or else he comes to Harvard because he had nothing better to do and because his friends are coming.

The aimlessness and restlessness that inevitably result from such a system are detrimental to the morale that can come only from cooperation in working for a fairly tangible end.

As a primary step in the progress of Harvard, I would urge that the admission of students be based on an oral interview in addition to the written examinations. By that system the college would get men of character and intelligence as well as good memory. The examining board should be elected by the faculty and should in turn elect its representatives to appear in the various parts of the country at a designated time during the spring of each year.

Since we have admitted that education does perform a definite function in leading civilization toward a certain fleeing but over-visible horizon, and since a true educational system is a true relationship between teacher and student, it is quite apparent that the college has just as much right to pick its students as to choose its teachers. If Plato had not believed this, we might never have hoard of Aristotle!