READING PERIOD

The obvious and most striking aspect of the proposal which the Undergraduate Council makes in its recent letter to the President is the extreme likelihood that such a reading period as it recommends will be used wisely, and not abused. It is workable. It is very easily adaptable to the Princeton "departmental" system.

Judging from the contents of the letter it is perfectly apparent that by the new system the Council does not desire in any way the relaxing of departmental requirements or the intensity of work. It merely expresses the undergraduate feeling that the benefit and enjoyment from writing papers and theses would be greatly increased by having a period in which there would be "the possibility of continuous application to an academic task." Unlike other reading periods this one is not the signal to undergraduates to extend their vacations. For Juniors a safeguard against this flaw, as it exists in other systems, is placed in the requirement that they produce departmental papers at the end of the period. As for Seniors we feel that the Council is correct in assuming "with confidence that the time granted . . . . would be wisely spent, first in application to the thesis, and later in condensing and summarizing the departmental work of two years' duration in preparation for the final comprehensive examinations."

Recent liberal policies in the University have met both with enthusiasm and cooperation among the undergraduates. The no course plan and the recent cut system have found Princeton men eagerly receptive to the present Administration's liberal measures. They would receive with equal earnestness the introduction of this new reading period. The Daily Princetonian