HARVARD IN EVOLUTION

In an adjacent column, the CRIMSON prints a comment on the recent reduction in course requirements voted by the Faculty. The opinion expressed by the writer may be taken as that held by a considerable number of undergraduates. Because that opinion, though natural, springs from hasty assumptions, it is advisable to point out the present development of the college's educational program.

The basic fact is that Harvard, in working away from the lecture system pure and simple, has not been able overnight to create the atmosphere and training which are required to make the tutorial system a success. Progress has naturally been tentative, and the precise goal has not always been clear to those involved in the transformation. At the present time Harvard education is essentially a compromise between the tutorial and the lecture system.

With this fact in mind, it becomes clear that demands for drastic reduction in course requirements are premature. The experiment now going on is unique, and ought not to be endangered by rashness. It is quite possible that certain aspects of the new Harvard have already been hurt by the forcing-house process. Further course-reduction should be the fruit of experiment before decisions are made.