BEYOND THE CLASS ROOM WINDOW: A CHALLENGE

Born at Harvard last spring and already increased in stature, the Undergraduate Faculty has now turned in a significant direction. Rather than living a solitary life in the Harvard Yard, the plan has found within itself the seeds of growth and dissemination. It was first adopted by Manhattanville College. Just recently Radcliffe and Brown planted the first seeds on their campuses. More than the ideal of service is embodied in this rapid maturity. Its importance in the college curriculum is due to two factors: the opportunity for students to participate in an educational experiment, and even more, to coordinate their own studies with the realm of experience.

The work of each student "tutor" has far greater implications than mere teaching of English or Economics. His objective is the attempt to clear up a national problem--the widening gap between high school and employment. Vividly apparent from the swelling ranks of the C. C. C., the N. Y. A., and the W. P. A., the struggle of youth to find an opening in private industry is becoming more acute each year. Claiming that public education has failed to prepare its graduates for their place in life, the Gulick report to the New York Board of Regents last fall favored the establishment of an eight year secondary school. In its work training units the National Youth Administration has recognized this same need to "educate towards employment."

What the N. Y. A. can offer in practical experience, the Undergraduate Faculty offers in theory. Practical experience in Radio Servicing, for instance, gets the high school graduate his first job. For advancement to Radio Engineering, however, he must have a theoretical background--Math, Physics, Chemistry--and it is courses like these that the Undergraduate Faculty can supply. A new responsibility has come to face each college. With his potential knowledge the student can take an active part in boosting the high school graduate a few rungs higher on his vocational ladder.

By contacting the world beyond the class room window, the Undergraduate Faculty adds the benefit of experience to the college curriculum. A new element--the combination of the text book with actual reality--broadens and enriches studies which have sended to sterility. The examples of Harvard, Manhattanville, Radcliffe and Brown are a challenge to other colleges. With its service both to the student and to the community, the Undergraduate Faculty should find a useful place on campuses throughout the nation.