Hartner Says Harvard Students Surpass Europeans in Interests

"The Harvard student is superior to the continental European student in respect to the wideness of his interests, but the two are about comparable in capabilities," Willy Hartner, Director at the Institute on the History of Science at the University of Frankfurt, observed in a recent interview.

Hartner, who was a guest lecturer at Harvard on the History of Science from 1935 to 1937, is revisiting the University for about two weeks. Monday he will lecture on "Imaginary Planets in Islamic Astronomy."

In a general comparison of European and American systems of higher education, Hartner pointed out that American universities impose stiffer concentration requirements than European universities do. "We feel it is unwise for students always to be spoon-fed," he declared, so that the only requirement made of most European students is that they choose some field of concentration.

This lack of requirements forces "a sense of personal responsibility" on the European student that the American student is less apt to have, he stated. However, the American student has an assurance that his counterpart does not.