EDUCATION IN THE YARD

Much maligned of late has been the University's policy on admissions, and President Conant's simple statement that "college would be a dreary place if it were composed of only one type of individual" has been ignored for quotations easier to distort. In brief the policy boils down to a sliding scale of personality and brains, with more being demanded of the one as the quality of the other declines. Thus the genius can come to Harvard however repulsive he is, the moron only when his charm is truly dazzling. A more democratic policy would be difficult to find, and until one is discovered the present system should be continued.

Indeed the policy is so ideal in concept that it could stand more careful enforcement. Every year fifteen hundred men qualify scholastically for admission, and approximately a thousand are taken in. The grave responsibility attached to denying five hundred men a Harvard education appears at times to be taken too lightly, and with insufficient basis for discrimination.

Perhaps the chief obligation accompanying President Conant's nationalization of Harvard is the duty of University Hall to inform itself regarding schools and scholars in various sections of the country. This means that accurate knowledge must be secured of regional marking standards, College Board training, and teaching emphasis, in order that school achievement may be translated into Harvard grades. It means that Dr. Gummere must be given enough assistants to determine by interview the personality of every applicant without recourse to welfare agencies or university clubs.

But organization in the field should be accompanied by reorganization at home. To set his house in order, Dr. Gummere should insist on the centralization of his department and the close co-operation of other officers of the University. The advice of the Hygiene Department, important but not all-important, should be kept in check and balanced against other considerations. From the various Deans he should receive records enabling him to judge schools by their past graduates. If it is decided that men not associated with the University can be of help, Phillips Brooks House should be educated in Harvard's needs and raised from the status of meddler to that of assistant.

When these reforms are carried out, the University will be in a position to apply its admissions policy. And it is to be hoped, on the one hand, that men who might make a genuine contribution to Harvard will not be sacrificed for colorless B men, and on the other, that brilliant students will not be turned away because quasi-psychological authorities predict their "maladjustment."

(This is the second in a series of seven editorials on Freshmen.)