MARRIAGE AND SOCIOLOGY

The suggestion that a course on social hygiene be made compulsory at Princeton-a suggestion contained in a letter to the Princetonian recently-raises a large problem. In recent years courses in marriage have come more and more to be taken seriously, and Harvard's Sociology Department will soon decide whether or not to give such a course here. No longer merely a joke, the question is worth straightforward consideration.

The Princetonian correspondent twisted the basic conception of a marriage course when he suggested merely a study of hygiene. To be complete, this side of marriage must be considered; but the psychological and social aspects are also important. Historians have pointed out that family life is the foundation of society; recognition of this fact is found at Harvard in Soc. 13. To complement this course, there is need for another which will consider the family from a more individual standpoint.

It will be the responsibility of this course to see that the psychological, juridical, and social aspects of the problem are considered. To this end, the services of men from the medical, law, and other graduate schools must be enlisted. But the Sociology Department is the logical executor of the course; it is best suited to the task of coordinating the various aspects and bringing them into a logical whole. Only when this is done will marriage instruction be raised from the level of a bull session, a matter for ridicule, to the position which is actually warranted by its importance.