Parsons Says Soc Rel 1 May Become Half Course in '54

Social Relation I will probably be condensed into a half course next year, Professor Talcott Parsons, chairman of the Department, disclosed yesterday.

Members of the Department have voted on and passed the new plan, but the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has still to approve the measure.

According to Parsons, the average student has had less and less time for full course electives since the expansion of the General Education program begun in 1946. The shorter, intensified new course is designed especially for non-concentrators.

Professor Parsons went on to say that Social Relations 1a and 1b has overlapped with middle courses. The new course will be more elementary, with the medium advanced courses acting as direct follows ups.

Professor Gordon Allport and Associate Professor George C. Homans taught Social Relations 1a and 1b respectively this year. The two new lectures, who will share the half course have not as yet been announced.

A poll that the Department took last year gave the indication that the courses is the field need better integration. The first step in the new program was the combination of social psychology and personality psychology into one field for the Senior Special Examinations, beginning in 1954.