REWARD OF VIRTUE

There has been much talk both in and outside the college lately of the changing trends of education. There has been much said at Harvard on the subject of building up a faculty of superior minds who will be capable of teaching the best of the younger brains which are to be drawn to this institution. One cannot be blind to the fact that changes have been in progress throughout the University since the beginning of the year, and that they are the changes of a radical nature which denote the new deal. The University is in the hands of a group of younger minds who are indeed awake to the changing exigencies of modern education. Those at the head of things have openly expressed themselves on the question of the calibre of faculty men. They are eager to build the staff on instruction to the highest possible human level, and to do this they are willing to go to ends which at present may seem revolutionary. So far these steps have been taken in the direction of ringing out the old. Now, indeed, the time has come for ringing in the new.

If new men are to be attracted to the University, one must consider with care the position of the new comer. The name of Harvard, many feel, is no longer alone adequate to attract a scholar. More tangible recognition of his worth must be offered to bring even very small mountains to our Mohammed. For many years feeling has run high against the age-old Harvard custom of promotions on the basis of academic seniority. In the past, slow indeed has been the rise to fame of the young mind. He has had to wade patiently through a series of one and three year appointments before he may grace the ranks of even the assistant professors. He has had to publish works of supposed scholastic merit which have been deemed essential to admit him to the fellowship of learned men. Many of these treatises have received no circulation beyond the examining board and are composed merely to satisfy an academic whim. After casting a casual glance over titles of the obscure subjects upon which the academic aspirant must write, one is inclined to wonder if this really is a true indication of scholarship. Are tracts on scholastic minutiae essential, do they indicate which are the sheep and which the goats? Changing aspects of education and the requirements to satisfy its definition today, make one believe that the mere publication of some droning monograph on a miniscular crumb of knowledge, is hardly in keeping with modern ideas.

But what of the man who is spending his time investigating the new in educational thought in an effort to improve his pedagogical methods and to inspire his pupils with a new and interesting attitude toward education? True his time has hardly been spent in delving into a subject which can be put upon the presses. Rather, his time has been at work upon a different field, a field which will benefit his pupils, and a field which after all is the essence of true education. Be is the man who has been devoting time and effort to his tutorial and teaching work, and upon this basis he should be rewarded. Usual Harvard custom decrees that scholarship be the basis of promotion, and this custom should continue so to decree. But can there not be a new interpretation given to this word? Is not active time and interest with tutorial work indeed a form of scholarship?

If Harvard is to attract the most able scholars, she must have something to offer them. The best are long since through with the preliminaries of a few published documents that should no longer be an essential to advance. They, and the younger men who have not found time to publish, but who have been eager in the new changes in education, must have some incentive to come to Harvard. If ideas of education are changing in one way, they may in another. Promotion to the scholar is a necessity and an interest. The best will not come to a Harvard in which promotion is based upon academic drudgery. Education is no longer a routine affair; merit in the modern educational system is no longer based upon inches printed. It should be based upon research in personal tutoring and instruction, as well as in books.