FRESHMAN REPETITION

The problem of repetition of school-work in the freshman year is still a vital question which confronts the university. Each year men enter the freshman class educated far beyond its limitations. Each year they are held back, made to cover the same ground and in so doing they lose much of the value of the first year at college.

American preparatory education is rapidly reaching a point comparable to that of England. Our private schools and advanced high schools are now able to carry students far beyond the requirements of the college entrance boards, but here lies the fallacy in the present system. If they do so, the students are forced to retrace their steps and cover once again the well-known ground.

Harvard has taken the lead in remedying this evil, and her board of admission, under Mr. Gummere and Dean Leighton, has made vast strides in reaching a working agreement with the leading preparatory and high schools. This year 300 freshmen have been admitted to advanced courses and the next years will see that number increased. If Harvard continues her efforts to correlate the work done before and after the entrance examinations, she will set an example which will prove a great step forward in American education.