HISTORY THESES

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Unfortunately, the CRIMSON's comments on the History Department reforms missed an essential point. The tutors' complaints about the senior program are less directed toward "weeding out the incompetents" than the recognition that many seniors have little interest in writing a thesis.

They simply glide through an honors program without alternatives, suspecting that this is necessary for their graduate school applications, and wasting both their tutor's and their time in a rather fruitless search for a "topic" which often has little meaning for either. Admittedly, this may reflect on the tutor as much as the student, but casting blame hardly resolves the condition.

The seminar alternative provides specialized readings and discussion in a period or topic, e.g., Civil War, and an opportunity to write a 40-50 page paper, surely sufficient for the "creative experience of writing," especially since the tutor and student will have greater interest and background in the problem than at present. Considered in this light it is a viable and valuable alternative to the thesis. Marvin Lazerson   Tutor in History