CODDLING THE CRUEL WORLD

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I was fascinated by the temerity of Herbert S. Meyers '52 and Andrew E. Norman '51 in discussing the world's reception of the Harvard man and how to fight back, when neither has left the Harvard community. Very rash of them to give advice on handling situations they have rarely been in.

The problem, essentially, is not how to justify four years of college to non-college graduates and those skeptical of the value of education. The problem is, essentially, how to deal with graduates of colleges other than Harvard, of which the outside world is full. Meyers and Norman are no doubt ignorant of this fact.

Nine conversations out of ten are apt to bring out one's collegiate affiliation. A casual remark, such as, "When I was at Harvard the subway ran from Cambridge to Boston in seven minutes," is totally useless. It is impossible to minimize the effect of the word "Harvard" on alien ears. Casual reference will be regarded as a sly way fr one to get across his background.

The frontal assault is equally useless:

A: Out at Illinois, where I went to school, we had the finest library I've ever seen. It was on the second floor of an old riding academy, and Mrs. Reefy, the librarian, knew exactly where every book was. We just asked her for it, and the next day when we came back, there it was. We had a lot of books, too.

B: Umm. Harvard has the largest college library in the country, I believe. Pretty efficient, too, although I don't think the librarian knew where all the books were.

A: You go to Harvard?

B: Yes.

A: Well, big deal! I don't rate colleges by the number of books in their libraries.

In this representative conversation, please note that A started off by bragging about his college library on a purely subjective basis. B replied with a fact, that Harvard's is the biggest in the county, and he even softened the effect by adding "I believe." A immediately attacked B for bragging.

The problem boils down to this--when Sam Anybody says he went to Schenectady Normal, well, that's where he went, that's all. When Sam Somebody says he went to Harvard, that makes him a supercilious oaf who goes around telling everybody that he's Harvard man.

I hope your authors will give some thought to my remarks. No solution is in sight at this end. In fact, my chief dread right now is that when I get out of graduate school hero at Yale and get into the Army I will have a sergeant who went to neither Harvard nor Yale. Stephen O. Saxe '51