Students View Movies And Cut Reading Time in Half

390 students are going to the moves every day this term. They are trying to learn to read faster.

All are enrolled in a daily reading course given by William G. Perry, Jr., director of the Bureau of Study Counsel. Perry teaches them to get ideas out of books faster, especially in the social studies area. Most students enter the course, with a reading speed of 220 wards a minute and leave it with a rate of about 420 words per minute.

The first part of each class consists of watching the movies, which present reading material from the pages of textbooks in the form of isolated word groups. The word groups flit across the person at a steadily increasing pace as the course progresses. After the film, students answer questions about the reading material they have just soon. In part two of the class they read passages from an ordinary book within a certain time limit and then again answer questions about what they have read. The third part of the course is devoted to teaching studying skills: skimming, anticipating, and notemaking.

The class is given every term for half a semester. Students may enroll with the Bureau of Study Counsel.

Investigation

A formal investigation of the relationship of the course to improvement of grades is at present in progress. Students have told Perry that their grades rose substantially after taking the class. Other benefits, like new confidence toward studies, can't be measured, Perry says.

The reading course had its beginnings in 1933 when Walter F. Dearborn of the Graduate School of Education gave a course called "Remedial Reading" to 30 students. Later the term "remedial" was dropped because Harvard men aren't supposed to have any reading disabilities.

In 1946 Perry took over the course. Since then both the instruction and the administration have come under the University Study Counsel. Charles P. Whitlock assists Perry in teaching the course.