HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONANT REPORT

The administration of a great university must endeavor to find methods of counteracting the centrifugal forces which tend to separate our faculties into an ever-increasing number of subdivisions.

We need a certain number of university professors with roving commissions whose teaching and creative work will not be hampered by departmental considerations. Such professors without portfolio would have to be recruited from scholars who had already proved their worth not only as productive thinkers but as stimulating personalities.

We should aim to have the scholarship funds of our colleges and universities used in such a way as to enable the secondary school graduates of real ability to continue their education irrespective of the financial status of their parents. This means we should allow the able student to devote his time to his studies without the distraction of trying to earn his living.

I believe we should have more scholarships in our Graduate Schools, and particularly, consider the advisability of providing an adequate assistance to the entering student of great promise but no financial resources.

It is a responsibility of the older men of each department to see to it that the younger men are not overburdened with teaching, that they are given an opportunity to develop their creative ability, and that a just appraisal is made from time to time of their merits.

Because of specific limitations affecting the use of large portions of our resources, the burden of the reductions (in our income owing to the depression) has not fallen evenly throughout the University. (He mentions research work, publication of valuable material, and the library, as well as the Departments.)

There is urgent need that the requirements in regard to modern languages be modified. . . . I believe that only the requirement in regard to a reading knowledge of French or German should be retained. It is very doubtful whether the requirement of an elementary language is of much value.

For years the status of the S.B. degree has been absurb. . . . A reformation in the requirements for the A.B. degree (omission of Latin) would enable the Faculty to restrict the S.B. degree to these concentrating in science and thus end the present rather ridiculous situation.

I do not feel that we need to raise our standards in regard to the requirements for continuing at Harvard. . . . Our problem is not to grade our less brilliant students more harshly nor to treat more ruthlessly those who are able but unwilling; our problem is to find ways and means of awakening the enthusiasm and interest of the lazy and to guide those who are having difficulty in one group of courses into other departments of learning for which they may be much better equipped.

It would be highly desirable to have a committee which would be concerned with guiding those students who are uncertain in regard to their choice of a field of concentration and those whose standing in their Freshman year indicates that they may have difficulty in the later years of their course.

An engineering school which is an integral part of a large university must develop in particular those aspects of engineering in which the aid and cooperation of other departments will be of value.