Guide to Fields of Concentration

Social Relations

Number of Concentrators: 442

1951 Commencement Honors: cum, 39; magna, 14; summa, 1.

Concentration in Social Relations is a good bet for the man who wants to spend his college career in the social sciences, find out more about himself and others, or get a good general education. The latter might find the department a bit stiffer than it was a few years ago, but Soc. Rel.'s liberal concentration requirements give the student a good chance to shop around for courses in many other fields.

Six full courses are required of all concentrators, but two of these may be in related fields. Courses in Anthropology, Biology, Economics, Government, History, Philosophy, and Psychology can count towards a diploma. But only one can be on a freshman level. Except for a thesis and a half course in statistics, honors requirements are no different from those of the regular concentrator. This year a new course, Social Sciences 122, was substituted for the old basic statistics course, Soc. Rel. 191a, and was not too well received. But since 122 was in an experimental stage, it should prove better in the future.

Since it is a field that attempts a synthesis of four different sciences, Social Relations requires its students to pick a special area of interest within the department. One of the two three-hour departmental exams given at the end of the senior year tests the student's knowledge of Social Anthropology, Sociology, Social Psychology, or Personality Psychology. The other exam is on the theories and methods of the field as a whole.

When the House Deans' program goes into effect next fall, group tutorial will be open to all sophomores under the jurisdiction of the Soc. Rel. tutor in each house. Juniors will still be allowed to pick their own tutorial groups and instructors, while senior honors candidates will continue to take Soc. Rel. 99, tutorial for credit, during their final year. About a third of the present concentrators are honors candidates.

One of the biggest complaints about the field in past years has been an overlap in several of the courses. Due to the complexity and cloudiness of many of the concepts, this overlap has been unavoidable. But as the department's curriculum has become better defined through experimentation, so has the material itself. A faculty committee is now at work to do away with what overlapping is left. The department's recent study of itself, according to head tutor Joseph A. Kahl, will held to solve this and many other of Social Relation's inner problems.

One of the most rewarding aspects of concentrating in Soc. Rel. is association with the department's faculty. Some of the leading social scientists in the country are on the staff. Chairman Talcott Parsons is probably America's foremost sociologist, and Samuel Stouffer, Henry Murray, Gordon Allport, and Clyde Kluckhohn are chief figures in world social science research.

Sanskrit and Indian Studies

Number of Concentrators: 4.

This tiny department, headed by Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls, has in the last few years become increasingly oriented toward the study of modern India, but even today it still has a long way to go. Ingalls himself says that a contemporary slant on the field is still more or less of a hope.

To concentrate in the department one must take six courses, two of which may be from related fields. There is no organized tutorial, but tutorial is an empty word in a field in which the few instructors and students know each other so well. A facile use of French and German is required before the third-year, but there are no other prerequisites.

The field is mainly of interest to prospective academicians who want a knowledge of Sanskrit, a damnably difficult language which is the basis of many modern tongues, although some students do come to get a familiarity with modern India.

Semitic-Languages

Number of Concentrators: 2.

1951 Commencement Honors: None.

Chairman Robert H. Pfeiffer admits that his department will appeal to only a small specialized group: future Near Eastern scholars, future rabbis, future ministers, future philologists, and future historians of religion. If you are not definitely interested in one of these professions, stay away from this field. The requirements are difficult and its dollar-appeal is just about non-existant.

Concentrators will need a knowledge of Greek, Latin, German, French, and two Semitic languages by the time they are finished. Consolation is available in the fact that Pfeiffer and Harry A. Wolfson, Littauer Professor of Semitic Literature, are probably the country's top teachers, in this field.

Slavic Languages

Number of Concentrators: 21.

1951 Commencement Honors: cum, 10.

Though a difficult course. Slavic Languages can be one of the most rewarding. A student who has command of a language besides a fundamental knowledge of English grammar will find Russian a challenging but not impossible language. A year of intensive Russian is required in the department.

The name of the field is rather misleading, for though it includes Russian, Czech, Polish, Ukranian and Serbo Croation, most undergraduate work is concentrated in Russian language and literature.

Slavic Languages is not too popular as a field of concentration, having only 21 students, but there are 363 students enrolled in courses taught by this department. Many of the literature courses are taught in English and require no previous knowledge of a Slavic tongue.

Many of the classes are conducted in small groups and supply tutorial-like teaching to the students. Because of the small instructor to concentrator ratio (13 staff members to 21 concentrators) the instructors are able to give almost individual assistance. But the department has two men who handle tutorial for honor candidates.

Aside from the close contact with instructors, the greatest point in the department's favor is the excellence of its personel, and Michael Karpovich, Head of the Slavic Language Department, is the foremost Russian historian in the country.