SUMMER SCHOOL, PRO AND CON

With all kinds of summer plans floating in the air, it is not unduly sanctimonious to consider the Harvard Summer School as a worthy and useful way to spend a part of the vacation. The Summer School is an important part of the University, and one gravely misunderstood by the undergraduate, who thinks of it as a sultry Devil's Island where one is sent for scholastic bad behaviour. In reality the six weeks spent here can prove extremely valuable to students in good standing as well as their less fortunate brethren.

In the first place, Summer School offers an opportunity to relieve schedule over-crowding; one full course towards a degree can be passed off by taking two courses in Summer School. This sounds like the arithmetic of the Mad Hatter, but Summer School courses are much less weighty. The gaps in a man's knowledge of his field, often in branches which are not ordinarily covered by the regular courses, can be filled. Last minute tutorial cramming for Divisionals can be avoided by covering a period which has been neglected. Thirdly, many courses given in alternate years, which cannot be taken because of schedule conflicts, are given in Summer School.

For the coming session Professor Mather has gathered a brilliant array of teaching talent from all parts of the country, especially in the fields of English, Government and Fine Arts. The concentrator in English can study modern American literature under Professor Hornberger, former editor of the Sewannee Review. This fills a gap in the English Department's program, which is notoriously scornful of American literature produced since 1920. In Government, courses in contemporary diplomatic problems, dealing with the latest crises will be given. The Fine Arts Department is offering an extended tour of the European art centers under the supervision of no less an authority than Professor Kenneth Conant.

Thus the student is given an opportunity not only to make up uncovered ground, but a fresh approach to his courses through the eyes of young men not permanently connected with Harvard. The Directors of the Summer School stress particularly getting young men representative of Universities all over the country as instructors. In this way the heavy emphasis on minute scholarship which the student faces during the academic year is relieved, and an idea of the trends of thought in other sections of the country obtained.