Freshman Advisers Urge More Area Distribution

In a move to broaden distribution of courses, the Board of Freshman. Advisers recently passed a motion to urge every student to include a course during the first two years in each of the three broad areas of the Humanities, Social Studies, and Natural Sciences.

At present the Faculty is considering a Student Council Report on Education, which proposes compulsory survey courses in each area, and the Board's unanimous vote was interpreted as a step toward a solution of the problems set forth by the Council.

According to Dean Leighton, Chairman of the Board of Advisers, the Student Council Report was discussed at the meeting. "Without taking any stand on compulsion, which is a matter for the Faculty to decide, the Board agreed that it was unfortunate that Freshman programs were not distributed more widely among the different major fields of study."

Slight Distribution Now

A study of Freshman curriculum, made by the Board, shows that over 40% of the present Freshman class include no course in the Natural Sciences (including Mathematics); that about 37% contain no course in the Social Studies (including Anthropology and Psychology); and that (unless English A and an elementary foreign language, which are practically prescribed for most Freshmen, are included) about 23% include no course in Humanities.

Certain exceptions were noted in the Board's recommendation, whereby advisers would not attempt to persuade students to take all the proposed courses, if the material had been covered in secondary schools or in outside work. Elementary languages and English A were excluded from qualified courses in the Humanities.