LATIN AND THE A.B.

The distinction between the A.B. and S.B. degree remains at Harvard as a relic of the time when no liberal education was complete without a generous amount of the classics. In some quarters, notably in England, this belief has defied all the educational developments of the twentieth century. But there are few at Harvard, outside of the classicists themselves, who would still hold that Latin and Greek should be accorded a place of special privilege in the curricula of the secondary schools.

In continuing the Latin requirement for the A.B. degree in the face of the general sentiment against it, Harvard is preserving a piece of academic dead wood which serves as a considerable nuisance to those who run afoul of it. However unreasonable the distinction between the two degrees, it often indicates to outsiders a certain inferiority in the S.B. degree which causes embarrassment to its holder. At the same time, the Science degree has lost all significance as a recognition of scientific work, going indiscriminately to the concentrator in chemistry and the dilettante whose effort to meet the distribution requirement netted him a C in Geography 1a.

The only reason for retaining the Latin requirement, presumably, is that its abolition would call forth too much opposition from the remaining sticklers for the classics. The report of the late Mr. Pennypacker, however, should bring the matter to a head and result in action within a year or so to end the anomalous situation. Either the S.B. degree should be eliminated altogether or it should be reserved for those to whom it would be of real value as a recognition of scientific work.