Science Tutor's Proposal Causes Department Head Disagreement

Heads of two science departments yesterday expressed their approval of a proposed plan to place more science men among resident tutors and add a tutorial system to the science curriculum.

Charles P. Whitlock, Allston Burr Senior Tutor for Dudley, who proposed the move, said that science tutors are necessary for personal contact between faculty and students. He felt that "many science students want to discuss their problems in small groups."

At present, he said, all the major fields except the sciences are well represented among the tutors in the Houses. As a result, those who major in these fields hold an advantage over the science majors.

In agreeing with Whitlock, Edgar B. Wilson, Jr., head of the Chemistry Department, commented that, although he "favors more science men in the Houses," the move would be expensive. He termed the tutorial system "a deluxe and expensive education which must pay for individual instruction."

Frank M. Carpenter '26, head of the Biology Department, did not comment on the tutorial system, but called letters of recommendation for students planning to enter medical schools a big factor in the need for resident tutors.

Bainbridge said that the laboratories, assistant tutors, advisers, and small classes of the Physics Department afford the student ample opportunity for personal contact with the faculty. "Only the shy people don't see their professors," he added.

To combine the tutorial system with the present lecture-class system would be impossible financially at the present time, Bainbridge said. It would entail the expense of combining two entirely different systems of teaching.

"We don't say that our system couldn't be bettered," he said, "but I don't think that tutorial is the whole answer."