The Mail 'A LAST WORD'

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

A last word-from me at least-on the subject of how to go about reforming Harvard's undergraduate education.

1. Professor Riesman suggests that "we may have to make do with incremental changes and small experiments, which could, however, become pilot models for larger changes." I fear that such marginal changes and minimal concessions could just as easily perpetuate an increasingly inadequate system-while undermining its legitimacy: a frequent result of incrementalism.

2. Mr. Tilden and Professor Riesman may be right in suggesting that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences could never agree on a coherent new design. But if there has to be incoherence-or rather diversity-it ought at least to be deliberate, discussed and designed. A debate on the basic underlying issues would have the virtue of clarifying alternatives and of providing a rationale for experiments. Otherwise, we'll have another kind of pluralism, the one that stems from intellectual paralysis and leads to cacophony.Professor of Government