THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS

Dartmouth has a new plan to meet the perplexing problem of limited enrollment. The idea of separating the sheep from the goats is admirable, but just how to go about it is no easy task. As in the schemes advanced at Princeton last spring, the value of the scholar is recognized at once, for at Dartmouth "the man of exceptional scholastic ability will always be admitted without question". But from here on the problem loses its simplicity. Admit the scholars--a group, alas, none too numerous; what next?

The Princeton plans called for a complicated system of examination by alumni boards to determine a candidate's personality,--whatever that means. Dartmouth is at present pursuing the same will-o'-the-wisp, now known as "well-rounded development on all sides". Instead of examining boards there are to be two elaborate certificates of "personal rating", one to be signed by the principal of the preparatory school, the other by "somebody actively connected with Dartmouth, either an undergraduate or recent alumnus". Every man will thus be hand picked, and enter the college sponsored by someone well acquainted with its traditions.

Possibly Dartmouth's new admission system will work perfectly... If so, many other colleges will certainly copy it, for few so far have been able to discover with much success how a candidate for a college degree may be ranked except by written examination. The chief difficulty lies in defining "personality" or "well-rounded development". What is it the prospective student must or must not have? To one man, the "prep" school graduate may appear a model youth of great promise, while another is likely to find him singularly stupid. To fancy that a certificate of rating will accurately pigeonhole a man, indicates a high degree of optimism if nothing else.

Another difficulty to be overcome is this: is it not the task of the college to develop "personality", to make him "well-rounded"? One often finds a man who leaves school distinctly second rate graduating from college in the first rank--to the credit of the college. What about these men? Limited enrollment is very much of a problem still. Dartmouth and the other colleges which are now seeking its solution are making exceedingly worth while experiments.