Minor Ventilation

(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:

Recently, while making some changes in my study card, I came across certain aspects of the study system which seemed rather out of place in the liberal atmosphere of Harvard College, and which could be changed for the better, it would seem, with only a little minor ventilation of the study system. I refer particularly to English A-1 and the number of studies to be carried per year. The following suggestions, however, seem so obvious that they may have been shelved long ago.

It seems to me that all undergraduates who are relieved from the prescription in English A-1 should be allowed to elect a fifth course in place of it at no extra cost and at any time in their college course, since the expense of English A-1 is born by the college as a whole. If this seems too extravagant a proposal, they should be allowed to take one of the more advanced introductory courses in English, such as English A-2, 79, and 28. This plan might well serve as an additional spur to entrance candidates in preparing for their English examinations. But perhaps this is a problem whose solution is best left to Lehman Hall.

Another criticism can be made concerning the compulsory four-course-per-year system, in effect regardless of the schedule a man may be carrying. A better plan would be to allow a certain amount of personal option regarding the number of courses to be carried at a time, especially in the case of men who are concentrating in Engineering Sciences or Chemistry, where divisionals are not required. Under this plan it would be possible to take five courses one year and three the next, and so on, thereby allowing the student to distribute his time and energy to better advantage.

I think this latter plan would supplement and bear out to its logical conclusion the present elective system, and the arguments used in support of the latter would be equally applicable in support of a "time elective" system. Alexander Junge '36.