TECH TECHNIQUE

In a significant statement recently issued by President Compton of Massachusetts Institute of Technology it was stated that this institution is faced with the necessity of limiting its student body. This is to be done by increasing the severity of the regulations which determine whether or not a student may remain in the institute and not by more stringent entrance requirements.

In thus avoiding the use of entrance grades as the test of the student's fitness to remain in the institution the Technology authorities appear to have decided wisely. The advantages which the graduates of the best preparatory schools have in their preparation and the amount of transient knowledge which can be absorbed with the help of a hired tutor greatly limit entrance grades as a true gauge of ability. On the other hand, in spite of the prevalence of tutorial schools accessible to college students, college grades are largely the result of industry and aptitude for the subject.

But this statement of President Compton has a broader significance than is found in the method to be used in limiting the total student body. It shows how general is the feeling with the public that a college education should be practical and have a very definite relation to the work which the student is planning to do when he graduates, for at this time when so many colleges are finding their enrollments distinctly reduced Technology has reached its greatest size. The cause of this distinctive growth appears to be that the demand for the practical education which this institution gives without requiring a college degree for entrance has increased more than the average personal income has decreased.