Unlimited Tutorial Is Dying in Most Departments, Crimson Poll Reveals

Like nickel beers, breakfast table education, and free parking in Cambridge, the undergraduate tutorial system as it existed before the war is gone forever. With almost a year of operation under the faculty ruling of December 4, 1945 behind it, the present tutorial system is considered to be fully satisfactory by a majority of the departments of concentration.

This is the principal conclusion to be drawn from the answers to a CRIMSON poll on tutorial, sent out during the past month to all fields catering to undergraduate majors. In answer to the question "Does your department feel that tutorial should be enlarged until it is offered to all students?" the CRIMSON received the following replies:

1) Well over half of the departments consider the present plan--limiting the departments' maximum tutorial to Honors Juniors and Seniors, as well as special Sophomores--as a satisfactory basis for the system's operation, and favor the continuance of the program in substantially its present form.

Have No Tutorial

2) For various reasons, approximately one fourth of the departments of concentration do not at present offer any tutorial, and, with the same causes in mind, do not think it feasible to add it.

3) Several departments in the first category offer, or intend to offer, tutorial to the fullest limit of the faculty ruling, but believe an extension that would include other students would be worth neither the students' time nor the University's money.

4) Two departments, Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Classics, present the fullest program their budget and manpower permits, and unqualifiedly support "a return to the full scale tutorial system formerly in force."

Although many of the department heads answering the poll admitted that there are in many instances intra-staff differences of opinion, all asserted that their departments as wholes generally share the same viewpoint.

Agree on Pressures

As for the departments as units, whatever their view of the scope and needs of the tutorial program, they generally agreed as to what elements determined their decisions. Foremost among these for departments with tutorial is the limit prescribed by the faculty ruling, within which any program must operate.

Departments not offering tutorial at all generally cited the expense as the major determinant of this policy. Several declared that they could not see their way clear to take money from other phases of their course work to provide for a tutoring system, which in many fields appears of dubious value.

Almost equally prominent as a causative factor is the shortage of young men, who normally carry the chief load. Probably hardest hit by this problem is the economics department, currently holding tutorial under a two year suspension, which will force reconsideration next year.

"We still face the difficulty of securing young scholars adequately trained to do tutorial work." Chairman Harold H. Bur- bank stated. Pointing to the intense national demand for young economists, he added that "in economics, we face a competition for young men that is indeed unusual."

Many other departments, notably English and Biochemistry, while offering tutorial to honors candidates, insisted that a re-extension of the program to include all students would be unprofitable.

"A majority of the department feel that the resources of the University could be better expended than in tutoring poor students." English Chairman George Sherburn stated.

In this he was seconded by John T. Edsall, Chairman of the Biochemistry Department, who said: "I am convinced that tutorial is very valuable for superior quality; I have grave doubts of its usefulness for people who are not of distinctly better than average quality."

Several chairmen carried this view even further, going on to lay the blame for the frequent failure of tutorial at the feet of the students.

The specific application of the now famous "student apathy to the field of Romance languages and literature, was definitely and positively stated by Chairman William Berrien, who pointed to the "lack of interest on the part of the students themselves. The apathy of many students, and their unwillingness to work toward getting beyond the spoon fed stage of education is a discouraging aspect of the problem..."

Whether they supported the present restricted policy, no tutorial at all, or a reversion to the pre-war program, the departments without exception agreed on the necessity for a student-teacher relationship which would extend beyond the mere note-taking stage.

Voluntary Conferences

But whereas some believe this can only be achieved through tutorial, others believe that the system of advising, with additional voluntary conferences if the student feels the need for them, will suffice to fill all undergraduate requirements.

In the science fields, where problems are somewhat different from the arts, Chairmen noted that a revived tutorial program is not even a remote possibility, although they do have advisers for the students. The real alternative to tutorial, however, lies not in the advising, but in the very structure of the fields themselves.

Though nominally speaking for his own department, Frederick V. Hunt, Chairman of the Physics Department outlined the view of the majority of the University's scientists. "Close personal contact between student and faculty members... will always remain the very essence of higher education. However, in the physical sciences, the laboratory provides this opportunity for personal contact, and for the exercise and encouragement of student originality.

"Since laboratory work in all the physical science fields offers many more hours of student contact per week than it would be feasible to provide under a tutorial system, you can see why it appears unlikely that we will move in the direction of superimposing a tutorial system upon the present scheme of things."

Course Offerings Integrated

To this should be added the comment by George S. Forbes, Chairman of the Chemistry Department, who noted that "our course offerings are compact, and carefully integrated. Our teaching fellows and instructors follow the students' progress closely in the laboratories for the various courses... All department members advise their quotas of concentrators... We feel that our staff performs many of the functions of those officially designated as tutors."

Although the Psychology Department has neither tutors nor laboratory hours, in the opinion of Chairman Edwin Boring their present advising method is highly satisfactory. Professor Boring stated that he considered as the real key to the problem, not the question "Will tutorial be revived?" but "Has Psychology kept any of the values of the old tutorial system without keeping the system." "The system", in his opinion, "is a bad way to spend the University's money."

"We think that the answer to that question is Yes, and that we can do still better...There is no system, just sensitivity to the students' needs. Some need much advice, some little."

Although the viewpoints stated above present weighty evidence for the case against further tutorial, tutorial itself is by no means completely dead. For all dissenting replies noted, many departments still favor giving tutorial to the fullest extent allowed by the University ruling.

No less than nine departments of concentration fall into this category. These are the Government, History, English, Classics, Romance Languages, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Anthropology, Mathematics, Biochemistry Departments. And of these, the Germanic Languages and Classics Departments have indicated their approval for a full-dress tutorial program for all, regardless of academic standing.

As the faculty ruling is interpreted by these departments, Honors Juniors and Seniors, and in some instances selected Sophomores, participate in tutorial work. A composite estimate of those receiving tutorial reveals a 30 percent total.

The situation in the Government Department, possessor of the largest undergraduate enrollment in the college, is perhaps most typical. While expressing its "desire to resume tutorial at the full level permitted by the faculty vote at the earliest possible date," Merle Fainsod, Chairman, pointed out that, tutorial or no tutorial, the Government Department shares the manpower difficulties facing men in all fields.

Personnel Problem

"The problem of finding competent personnel to discharge tutorial functions in the past year has not been an easy one," he related. But he is confident that next year and the following one, conditions will definitely improve.

In line with this belief, the Department in planning next year's budget on the assumption that it will be able to tutor approximately 300 students out of a total Harvard--Radcliffe concentration of 800. This will be a definite advance over the present total of 208 who are tutored and 496 advised.

Also in the field of the Social Sciences, Chairman David Owen of the History Department pointed to the fact that, with the exception of Sophomores, his department tutors to the full extent permitted by the faculty vote. Unlike other departments, History "does not anticipate difficulty in finding competent young men to fill tutorial vacancies."

Romance Languages

Away from the Social Studies, the Romance Language Department faces problems similar to those in Government. Here, under a newly-broadened policy, all candidates for honors in their Junior and Senior Years who do not fall below Group IV for more than two successive terms, are eligible.

Chairman William Berries pointed out, moreover, that many members of the professorial ranks have on numerous occasions taken tutees on a voluntary basis. But despite this, and regular tutorial, he wrote that "we have had difficulty finding staff members experienced in tutoring; personnel scarcities continue to offer a discouraging obstacle to adequate coverage for both instruction and/or tutorial, but we hope for relief before long.

A problem peculiar to his special field, Professor Berrien continued, is the difficulty of securing sufficient personnel even for the course offerings in the field. But a problem definitely not peculiar to Romance Languages is "the lack of interest on the part of the students themselves in undertaking any additional activity requiring time or attention on their part."

Falling into a somewhat special class is the Music Department which, though it does not offer tutorial, does present concentrators with a chance to study "basic piano," if they do not possess any training, as it is almost identical with the studies formerly undertaken by Juniors and Sophomores.

Once a student is able to meet the basic requirement, he is given advising, similar in nature to that given Freshman, unless he is an honors senior, in which case he will get regular tutorial in the old sense.

Tutoring Status By DepartmentsDepartment  General Tutorial Offerings  CommentAnthropology  Honors Juniors and Seniors  NoneArchitectural Sciences    Questionnaire not yet receivedAstronomy    Questionnaire not yet receivedBiology  None  Gradual loss of younger men has resulted in "a natural death"Biochemistry  Honors Juniors and Seniors  Tutorial valuable for superior students, probably not for inferior onesChemistry  None  Compact course integration, and lab hours do work of tutorialClassics  To Half of concentrators  Favor unlimited tutorialComparative Philology  No regular tutorial  Tutorial help given "as an extra" in small departmentEconomics  None  Will reconsider tutorial next yearEngineering Sciences  None  Lab work sufficesEnglish  Groups I, II, and III  No increase plannedFar Eastern Languages    Small classes provide teacher-student relationshipThe Fine Arts    Questionnaire not yet receivedGeology and Geography  None  Tutorial not necessaryGermanic Languages  Honors Seniors and as much other tutorial as possible  Favor full-scale tutorialGovernment  Honors Seniors, Juniors above Group IV, and Sophomores for one term  Favor "full tutorial at full level permitted by faculty vote"History  Maximum allowed, except for Sophomores  No departmental view givenIndic Philology    Questionnaire not yet answeredMathematics  Honors Juniors and Seniors  Tutorial at limit set by regulationsMineralogy    Questionnaire not yet receivedMusic  "Basic Piano" and Tutorial for Honors Seniors  Basic Piano is still experimentalPhilosophy    Questionnaire not yet receivedPhysics  None  Lab work more importantPsychology  None  Advising is satisfactoryRomance Languages  Honors Juniors and Seniors Group IV or better  Expense, personnel, and student apathySemitic Languages    No concentrators at presentSocial Relations    Questionnaire not yet receive