LEX JULIANA DELENDA EST

For many years it has been the practice of the University, and of the Mathematics department, in particular, to appoint candidates for the Ph.D. degree to part-time instructorships. There are two considerations which, especially at the present time, militate strongly against the renewal of these appointments.

In the first place, the quality of elementary instruction is adversely affected by the lack of practical classroom experience of most of these students. In the Mathematics departments several men in their second year of graduate work have been selected, and there are at present in Mathematics A some who have scarcely attained their majority. While it is true that these men may exceed most of their contemporaries in maturity and initiative, the stringent requirements for an advanced degree necessarily restrict the time at their disposal for teaching duties.

But the economic decline, with its consequent curtailment in college budgets, has brought another phase of the matter into sharp relief. There are many would-be teachers who have earned the Ph.D. degree in the Graduate school in mathematics, and who are unable to find employment. Certainly these men, older and more competent masters of their field, and with no further class or thesis work of their own, are more logical choices than mere candidates. The fact that in many cases their needs are acute, and that they abound in discouraging numbers, indicates that they would be equally cheap labor. Those graduate students whom they would displace might secure aid through correcting papers or proctoring, duties less arduous and less responsible. There is surely no reason why this anomalous situation should be allowed to persist.