Sole A.B. Degree Wins in Student Vote; Latin Liked

Reduced to cold figures, undergraduate emotions over the A.B.-S.B. degree distinction and the ancient languages reveal that 46 percent of the students favor a single degree in some form, that 70 percent of those taking Latin considered it "of value," and that the study of Greek is on its last legs throughout the country.

Final tabulation of 1800 ballots was accomplished last night by a group working under the Student Council Committee on Curriculum and Tenure to produce a report which will be put before the Faculty on Thursday, December 3.

While 16 percent, of whom 80 percent were candidates for the A.B., favored the "status quo" on the matter of the College degree, another 40 percent preferred two or three degrees awarded according to one's course of study, feeling running strongest among the social scientists.

Social Science S.B.'s Dissatisfied

Contentment with individuals' present candidacy ran the gamut from 100 percent among humanities candidates for the A.B. to 75 percent dissatisfaction among prospective S.B.'s in the social sciences.

Natural Science A.B.'s were 70 percent against taking an S.B. and 30 percent indifferent, while 33 percent of S.B.'s preferred the other degree, 25 percent were content, and 42 percent did not care.

Every group but the social science candidates for the S.B. felt that Latin had been useful to them in some degree, with A.B. candidates in all fields about five to one in favor, and S.B.'s who had not quite met the ancient language requirement split about 55 and 45 for Latin.

Latin Students Like It

A correlation between students' opinion of Latin's worth and the number of years they studied it shows that those with four or more years were eight to one for it, those with three years, three to one, those with two slightly in favor, and those with one, three to one against. Some who had not taken it at all volunteered that it would not have done them any good if they had.

Ancient Greek barely figured in statistics on the ancient languages, since, while almost a third of the secondary schools represented offered one or more years of it, barely three percent of those polled had taken it. Indications were that only four or five preparatory or Latin schools in the New England and New York area accounted for most of the Greek offered.