NEXT PLEASE

Educators delight in continually toying with education. Last week the spotlight was held by President Hutchins of the University of Chicago, who suggested that the A.B. degree be awarded after the first two years of college, so that those students who wish to study in earnest may specialize during the remaining two years. This week's highlight is the news from the convention of the American Association of Junior Colleges, where one of its speakers, Dr. James M. Wood, proposed that universities release their sophomore and freshman classes to the junior colleges, as the universities are not equipped to offer adequate training to these undergraduates. Both plans are worthy of some consideration, but at the same time they make one wonder what these playful imaginations will bring forth next week.

To some extent Harvard has also toyed with the liberal education in the past few years. The tutorial system was one of the results of its groping toward a mean between specialized and diversified study. The last two years has seen the development of combined fields of concentration, and this year will see a beginning of the area concentration plan along with more flexible entrance requirements. All of these projects are steps away from four years of aimless wandering spiced with only an occasional massage of the intellectual backbone. They indicate that American education is changing slowly, but surely.

The proposals of President Hutchins and of Dr. Wood come a bit early, for whatever need there is for a revision of the liberal education will not come about by the mere say-so. They will come only after the slow, experimental, trial-and-error method which has characterized the development of the American school system. What is more important is the student's desire for a change, since it will be up to him to accept or reject and to prove the success or failure of any new plan. After due consideration of what has gone before, all that can be said for these proposals is an abrupt "Next"! No doubt, plenty of "nexts" will answer.