Group Tutorial Starts For 500 Sophomores

Almost half of the sophomore class will find themselves subjects in the University's latest experiment, as house-centered "group-tutorial" officially starts this week.

The 500-odd men are concentrating in History, Government, Economics, Social Relations and English. The new tutorial program will be under the jurisdiction of the Allston Burr Senior Tutor in each house and will be administered by the resident tutors in the respective fields.

Teams of four to six men will comprise the tutorial groups, which will meet bi-weekly throughout the year.

No student will get credit for his tutorial work, but the University has decided to give him grades of Honor, Pass, or all, which will appear on his permanent record. The assignments will consist of reading and discussion on assigned topics and research projects.

Juniors in the five fields will get house-centered group tutorial also. Those having special interests, however, will be able to study with faculty members outside of the house staff. Senior honors candidates will still get individual tutorial instruction for their theses.

Tutorial plans for the other departments willremain unchanged. Because of their smaller size, these fields offer closer student-faculty contact and will probably not switch to group tutorial to any great extent.

While all groups in the resident houses will meet there, Apley Court has been refurbished to handle those men from the Commuters Center.

In addition to handling much of the tutorial work, the Senior Tutors, equipped with each student's official records, will help plan the house social and athletic program and handle the disciplinary problems of the house residents.

According to Dean Leighton, the new advising program will do away with many of the academic and disciplinary problems faced by the old upperclass assistant dean system.

All of the Senior Tutors will continue with their regular teaching assignments on the faculty.