Overseers Committee Sees Necessity of Three Economies in Tutorial System

Foreseeing the necessity of economics within the tutorial system if the need for faculty promotion of tutors is to be reconciled with the strained financial condition of the University, the Overseers Committee to Visit Harvard College has completed a report on the system which has just been published in the Alumni Bulletin.

In submitting their three recommendations, which are estimated to save between $75,000 and $100,000, the report points out that not only are there no special funds for the promotion of tutors, but also that "tutoring has too rarely been regarded by the University or by the tutors, as a career."

From the student viewpoint the report points out that there are a large number of lower-than-average students who have not "been brought to the point where they are able to take their studies into their own hands and push them forward with the joy of an intellectual explorer."

As their first remedy, the Committee proposes to restrict the tutorial system to candidates for honors and "others whose work is of more than average." Secondly, students might be tutored in pairs instead of individually, and thirdly, the number of courses now given might be reduced.

The Committee does not feel that these changes would weaken Harvard's educational machinery, but feel, on the other hand, that the best students would be given more freedom and incentive to do excellent work. From the tutor's standpoint, there would be more time for research and writing, the promotion of younger men would inject new blood into the Faculty, and the advancement of the best tutors would encourage the rest.

The Committee is composed of: Edward C. Aswell '26, who drew up the report, Allston Burr '89, Stephen P. Cabot '92, Thomas II. Eliot '28, G. Peabody Gardner, Jr. '10, Joseph R. Hamlen '04, R. Keith Kane '22, Walter Lippmann '10, George W. Martin '10, Langdon P. Marvin '98, John J. Rowe '07, and Samuel A. Welldon '04.

Because of the significance of this first authoritative report on the tutorial system the CRIMSON will print it in full, commencing Monday.