THE CHOICE BETWEEN THEM

Tomorrow's meeting of the class of 1939 represents a well-intentioned attempt on the part of the University to light the way for unwary freshmen in their search for the most suitable field of concentration. With the deadline less than three weeks away, most of these students still find themselves groping in the dark, getting shreds of completely inexpert advice from undergraduate friends, well-meaning families, or casual acquaintances among the faculty. In the majority of cases, this year as before, the services rendered by freshman Advisers will not be able to be measured by Mallinckrodt's most sensitive instruments.

It is even more important now than in times past that freshmen have somewhere to turn for adequate guidance. The valuable reforms of the Conant administration, such as the change in both the language and distribution requirements, have stepped up the pace of the first college year to no inconsiderable rate, leaving the quaint covered wagons of the Adviser system hopelessly in the rear. In his report Dean Hanford has frankly recognized the confusion of the choice of concentration, but has tackled the problem in an orthodox, and, unfortunately, unimaginative way in his proposal for a series of departmental clinics. This austere system of consultation and diagnosis by individual departmental representatives is a generous gesture on the part of the Dean, but leaves the fundamental ill untouched. A casual pilgrimage from office to office would leave the freshman in even a worse state of indecision than when he started. He has always had opportunities enough for information, which, after all, is all that these clinics could hope to give him; what he needs is leadership.

Professors Whitney and Walsh will use every means to bridge the ecric gap between the first and second years of college, while the pamphlet on concentration will answer the technical questions on the subject. These friendly efforts are duly appreciated by the student body, but the finger of responsibility points more sharply than ever at the freshman Adviser system. To its impressive failure, more than any other single cause, must be attributed the confusion and indecision confronting the class of 1939 at this time.