Experimental Sections in Gen Ed A Will Have Two Classes Each Week

As a result of the Faculty vote last spring to undertake "extensive revision in the freshman year," some 40 sections of General Education A will meet twice a week this year, Harold C. Martin, Director of General Education Ahf, announced last night. An estimated 600 Harvard and Radcliffe freshmen, selected by an arbitrary alphabetic system, are included in the experimental sections.

To compensate for the additional time which the second weekly meeting will require, the experimental groups will meet only during certain times of the year--from the last week in September to the first in December, and from the first week in February to the third in March.

The new plan is designed both "to relieve students at a time when their other course work is most apt to accumulate heavily," and to provide the advantage of concentrated meetings over a short time, Martin explained.

Because fall and spring sessions of the course will be based on different types of work in composition, the two-month gap during the winter is not expected to pose a serious problem in continuity, according to Martin. Short, separate selections will comprise the fall reading list, while the spring reading will be in one book of expository prose.

Martin expressed the hope that all future Gen Ed sections would meet on the new schedule. Although such a change would be "desirable," he added, it would certainly have to be determined by a Faculty vote and any final decision would rest on the success of the experimental sections this year.