Three Tutoring Schools Give Reviews for 4,000 Word Critical, Personal Book Review in Phil B

Three tutoring schools, Manter Hall, Parker-Cramer, and University Tutors, have been conducting reviews for the Philosophy B, 4,000 word thesis due this Thursday.

The course syllabus calls for the main arguments of a selected book and then the student's "own comments" on the reading he has done. The work is to be personal and critical.

Facts and Comments

Manter Hall offers the facts out of four selected books and further offers "comment" to the student. The price is $2.50.

Parker-Cramer offers "a review of certain books with personal criticism on appointment." The charge, $3.00.

University Tutors advertises a review of three selected books "with more than just the facts of the book." Their price mounts to $4.00.

Plays Wise

Mr. Wolff, of Massachusetts Avenue, the only other major tutor, is lying very low, and wisely.

The books to be reviewed and commented upon are 20 in number, varying from Plato's "Dialogues" and Spinoza's "Ethics" to contemporary and recent works such as Royce's "Philosophy of Loyalty" and Lippmann's, "Preface to Morals." One of these is to be chosen by t he members of the course.

Choice of 20 Books Further instructions are, "each student will choose one book from the list of Classics or contemporary works for his own special study; and will present on Thursday, December 19, an essay of about 4,000 words, first expounding the main argument of the book and then offering his own comment."

The last time that the tutoring school question came up was in May, 1933. At this time Dean Hanford made the following official comments:

Self Education

"All education which is important and effective is self-education, and a student acquires knowledge and learns only by working things out for himself. The only way he can quicken his own mental processes, follow an author's line of thought and understand a topic is by reading and analysing the author's original work as a whole and as distinguished from a digest thereof.

Critical Habits

"This accentuates a tendency to make the students feel that the important thing is to pass examinations, regardless of the means, rather than to master and understand the subject, train the mind, and develop critical habits of thought. It has also been our experience that the use of these abridgements encourages a certain type of students to even more questionable methods of passing an examination.

"All of this is extremely harmful and injurious to the undergraduate's attitude towards his work. The attitude of the college being well known, the students make clandestine use of these abridgements and naturally the abridgements themselves are seldom seen in the classroom.

Widely Used

"It is also common knowledge among professors and instructors in charge of the larger elementary courses that these abridgements are being used to an extent which has become of great concern to the college authorities."