Fractured French

Not to be outwitted by the History and English departments, the French department has invented its own method of tormenting History and Literature concentrators. Rather than not give its courses, it has stiffened the prerequisites for them. In the past, French 20 has been strongly recommended as preparation for middle-group literature courses, with consent of the instructor as an alternative. Now, demonstration by examination of knowledge equivalent to French 20 is the only alternative to the course itself. No matter how fluent in French the Hist and Lit man may be, he must have a knowledge of all French literature before he can study his own period. Already required to take eight courses for concentration, the Hist and Lit student whose field includes France, in effect, now needs nine.

A return to the policy of former years would resolve the problem. The French department would still have, through the study cards, control over the courses taken by its concentrators while individual instructors could exercise their judgement in admitting those without French 20. The flexibility reattained far outweighs the possible advantages of having a clear-cut admissions standard for the middle-group courses.