BETTER AND BETTER

Quietly and decisively the Union Committee adds each year to its usefulness. 1935 marked the first Confidential Guide, and 1936 saw the enlargement of that pamplet and the first few faltering reviews. Yesterday the Freshmen announced the expansion and refinement of another year-old scheme--the talks on fields of Concentration. Not fourteen but twenty-five fields will be served up, each presented with its most succulent trimmings by a leading instructor. At the conclusion of the series President Conant will speak, summarizing the preceding talks and framing them in general observations on education and concentration. As long as the faculty regard the occasion so seriously that people in the positions of Professor Munn and Professor Sachs speak for their fields, the first year men will flock in and listen carefully. To an extra large degree, therefore, the scheme depends on the effort and interest of the teachers.

There is some alarm lest the talks will develop into rivalries, with the instructors trying to outbid the other to get the customers. The possibilities of such competition are immense. Discounts and premiums would be part of the sales drives, and the departments could lure the trade with guarantees of minimum marks and maximum hours. If there is any tendency--and there may well be one--for the speeches to resemble the official catalogue, some of the Confidential Guide tricks will come in handy. Each instructor might be followed by seniors just through the particular mill, who would spend a few minutes describing the field from the undergraduate point of view. However, the spirit with which the faculty are going into the undertaking promises a help to Freshmen that is both invaluable and realistic.

In no way should the fine expansion of the talks stop the growth of other aids to Unionists. The Committee cannot rest after one step with a long ladder yet to go. Special effort will be needed to awaken exam reviews from the coma they entered following last year's disappointment, and many parts of the Confidential Guide will be dropped or changed. Nor must the proctors feel any less needed for advice now that their charges are given official pictures of future courses. The Union Committee's program is a happy addition to first year guidance and not a substitute for any of its features.