Study Counsel Bureau Helps Grades By Teaching Students How to Work

"We've come a long way since we started," William G. Perry '35, Director of the Bureau of Study Counsel said yesterday, referring to the fact that the Bureau now advises over 1,000 students per year.

Established in 1939 as the Bureau of Supervisors to counteract the Square's commercial tutoring schools, and renamed last year, it is now the only regularly authorized source of aid to students experiencing study difficulty.

"A tutoring school," Perry says, "is successful when the student comes back. We're successful when he doesn't have to."

Activities of the Bureau come under two headings--counseling and tutoring. The counseling end is handled by Perry and an assistant, while help in college subjects is given by a staff of 150 graduate students and professional teachers.

Emphasizes Technique

Perry firmly believes that proper study habits are essential for good grades, and emphasizes, in his counseling sessions, that improvement of reading and note-taking techniques can raise a C to an A.

"We have no magic formula for scholastic success," Perry declares. "Often, counseling and tutoring help a student little, but," he says, "we like to think that we help 75 percent of the men who come to us."

As he puts it, "A student with three Bs is often more concerned about one C than a student with three Cs is troubled by a D--and it is always easier to help him."