La Piana Says Tutorial System Still Young; Must Be Given Fair Chance

"The tutorial experiment is not old enough, nor has it yet had a fair trial, to be changed or meddled with in any way," said George La Piana, John H. Morison Professor of Church History, when he and J. A. C. Fugginer Auer, Professor of Church History and Parkman Professor of Theology were interviewed by the CRIMSON yesterday. "Confining the benefits of the tutorial system to the honor students alone would be far too drastic a thing to do. Naturally enough there is, and always will be a class of men that are either not fitted for, or are too lazy to take advantage of this system, but there is also a middle class. This class is just as willing to work as the honor class, but for some reason or other has been unable to get high enough marks to be in the honor section. Nevertheless they have ability, and what they need to bring it out is some such system as the tutorial."

"What we need most to understand," said Professor Auer, "is the fact that the tutorial system is a fine thing for a college, but can not be fitted into a university. It is possible to make this system flourish in American universities, so long as these universities have undergraduate students, and the tutorial system is confined to them. However, some lecture courses are needed for stimulation; the work would tend to become intolerably boring if confined to tutorials and reading alone."

"Harvard always has and still does show an interest in the humanities," said Professor La Piana when asked if he believed the University was veering away from being a liberal arts school. "And the election of a scientific man, Mr. Conant to the position of president, does not mean that the liberal arts idea will be superseded by a scientific one; President Conant seems to be just as much in favor of the liberal arts as he is of science. We must realize the difference between American and European culture, if we are to understand the liberal arts situation in the University. In Europe, culture consists of a good knowledge of the classics, of literature and history. In this country a knowledge of practical science is more important than a knowledge of the classics. Harvard is attempting to give this medium between the scientific and the liberal, this American culture, to its students, and it appears to be succeeding. However, care must be taken to keep these non-liberal courses such as Military Science or Aerial Photography, as subsidiaries to the liberal arts courses. Once they are given too important a place in the University, they will engulf the other courses and Harvard will no longer be a liberal arts school."