The Rebuttal

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To The Editor of the CRIMSON:

As a comment on your editorial of Monday, November 6th, I wonder if you would mind publishing this paragraph from my report to the President for the academic year just closed.

"Then there is the other side. Has our man the ability to make good in the occupation of his choice? Personnel men have done a good deal of work on the testing of abilities. But their results are not yet very satisfactory for their tests are negative rather than positive. They can show that a man has not, let us say, the manual dexterity required to be a good dentist, but their tests do not prove that he can otherwise fulfill the demands which dentistry will make of him. One testing expert has told me that a man choosing his career should give but one per cent weight to the results of tests. We believe interests to be the best guide and urge men to put trust in following theirs. For the most part, people shun the things they do badly and concentrate on the things they do well. Practice is thus backed by interest. Naturally student activities will not be graduate activities, but by a method of interest analysis outlined in our 1931 report we show men how to relate past interests to possible future interests. This we believe will, in most cases, actually hitch their abilities to an occupation appropriate to them. But in any case enthusiasm will often overcome the absence of ideal abilities." Augustus L. Putnam.