Gen Ed Students Match Scientists in Nat. Sci. 5

A survey conducted on the grade averages of students enrolled in Natural Sciences 5 has revealed a startlingly small difference between the marks of protective pre-med and biology students taking the course to fulfill general education requirements.

George Wald, professor of Biology and head of the course, disclosed yesterday that only a fraction of a point separated the mean averages posted by the two groups at mid-term, with the biology concentrators and pre-med students doing slightly better.

The average grades in the two groups following the course's first two hour exams last fall showed that science students were leading the general education students by five points.

Noting that he regarded the five points as an "exceedingly small difference" to begin with, Wald said that performances in the spring have obliterated any such reference "with even a suggestion that general education is leading the field."

The Harvard and Radcliffe students earning the highest grades on the course's hour exam were both in the general education group. Of the top sixteen grades on the exam, nine were made by general education students, five by science concentrators, and two by undecided students. This is despite the fact that there is only a very slight different between the sizes of the two groups. Wald said he began the course with the hypothesis that the best introduction to biology for general education students should also be the best introduces for the prospective concentrator." I see that this has now been amply indicated," he said, "so that what was an hypothesis is now pretty much a conviction."

The interplay between the two groups, Wald pointed out, is adding greatly to the course. He noted that the presence of the general education students provides a "scope and breadth of treatment" while the presence of biology and pre-med students "lends a certain stiffening" to the course.