Dean Monro Proposes New Non-Honors Plan

After nearly a year of muffled discussion on the fate of non-Honors tutorial, Dean Monro has definitely taken "a major concern on behalf of the whole College, and hopes to have a program established for next Fall." Since last February, when the Committee on Educational Policy recommended that compulsory non-Honors tutorial be dropped, neither Masters nor Departmental officials have been certain about their roles in any future, voluntary program.

Yesterday the Dean of the College outlined several conclusions he has considered about the nature of non-Honors tutorial:

First, that it be voluntary, graded and for credit--in the form, probably, of a half-course running through two terms;

Second, that the program be based in the several Houses and thus serve as "part of the communications network between the student and his House";

Third, that the various Departments sponsor the instruction in these non-Honors tutorials, and that interdepartmental programs be arranged where they might prove helpful; and

Fourth, that the teaching talent available is a more important consideration than the subject matter of these tutorials, and that the program should not restrict itself to any field, such as Contemporary Civilization.

In its reports last February, the CEP said "It is to be hoped that for each field of concentration a program of group tutorial or small discussion sessions might develop in the Houses for non-Honors seniors," but it specified no officials to initiate such a program. In another part of the report, the Committee stated that "it hopes that each department will be prepared to implement" a non-Honors program, "different from that for Honors, but respectable in its own right." Although both the Houses and the Departments were thus vaguely implicated, neither was assigned the duty of proposing a specific non-Honors program or putting it into effect.

Last year Monro suggested that the Departments alone establish voluntary non-Honors tutorials, in the form of half-courses for credit. But this plan, while simple, left the Houses completely out of the program, and, said Monro, some of the Masters registered "vigorous objection, which began my education as the new Dean."

At present, Monro is studying a specific, "nuts and bolts" proposal--a long memorandum prepared by one of the Masters who is most concerned about the future of non-Honors tutorial.

The principal questions now are, who will assume the responsibility for organizing the nature of the various tutorials given each year, and what will be the mechanics of getting the right non-Honors students together with the right tutors.