CEP Discusses Changes to Make Freshman Year More Challenging

The CEP considered the Freshman Year in yesterday's meeting, probably for the first time this year. Discussion centered on the problem of making that period more stimulating to students, but no policy decisions were made.

Members questioned whether there is "too much spoon-feeding" in the first year of college, William A. Klemperer '50, professor of Chemistry and a member of the CEP, said yesterday. In addition, the Committee weighed the relative merits of traditional type courses and seminars in awakening students' intellects.

Prior to the meeting, two CEP members showed conflicting attitudes towards proposals that tutorials or seminars be given in the Freshman year. Walter J. Bate '39, professor of English, viewed the proposals with skepticism. Citing the "gigantic cost" of House tutorials, he called the suggested Freshman innovations "largely academic." The present work overload on the staffs of popular departments such as English, he claimed, would also make extension of tutorial to Freshmen very difficult.

On the other hand, Robert G. McCloskey, professor of Government, stressed the need for making incoming "rote scholars" more adventurous. He had "mild reservations" however, about substituting seminars or tutorials for regular courses. These regular courses "may be just what the doctor ordered for Freshmen," he said.

If tutorials or seminars are added to regular courses, McCloskey stated, they should be tied to course work. Addition of these "extra courses" might overload the schedules of some Freshmen, he said, and might therefore force limiting the program to unusually capable students.