Sophomore in Deal to Purchase Coed College in Maryland; Needs $250,000

Samuel Wendell Williston Shor '42, of Winthrop House, may be the nation's youngest college president if a deal he has started comes through in the near future.

It all started two weeks ago when Shor, looking through the New York Times classified ads for a soft spot in case he didn't pull through his mid-years, stopped short at an item reading, "College for sale; beautiful campus; old tradition; coeducational; write to Box $03 for full particulars."

Shor immediately wrote that he "and several other instructors" were interested, and wanted more information. An Economics A student, he is already planning to organize a vast net of holding companies among the residents of Apley and Claverly to purchase the institution.

Further information came yesterday, but not much of it. It came in the form of a cautiously worded letter written on plain stationery with the letterhead ripped off from New Windsor, Maryland. The upshot was that if Sher wanted any more dope, he would just have to put up $50,000 of the $250,000 purchase price.

But the writer, who signed himself "W. R. Slack," grudgingly came across with a few facts. The college is "now celebrating its hundredth year of sev- teachers for their immediate tasks in the classroom."

Three things which a prospective teacher might derive from professional courses in education, Holmes said, are: (1) an understanding of the part played by general intelligence in the progress of a pupil; (2) an understanding of the special mental operations and habits required by the course; and (3) knowledge of the personal factors which may interfere with school work.

Untrained Teachers Narrow

An interesting observation made by Dean Holmes was his assertion that the "untrained beginner. . . may arouse enthusiasm and interest which leads to a mistaken specialization in his subject on the part of students who ought for various reasons to be giving their main effort to a different subject."

In order that the University may continue its part in the scientific preparation of teachers, Holmes asked for a liberal financial endowment to the Graduate School of Education, emphasizing especially the need for better housing facilities at the School.

Asking for gifts to the extent of three million dollars, to take care of scholarship funds, research, and Faculty additions, Holmes concluded that "neither the fortunes nor the idealism of the graduates and friends of Harvard have suffered so severely that such gifts are not within the bounds of reasonable hope.