BUT THE FRESHMEN!

Harvard's increasing tendency to provide a suitable medium for the mature student who is fully aware of all he wants from his college career must not blind the authorities to the fact that there still are, and will continue to be, many men who step from school to college as a matter of course, with little appreciation of the difficulties inherent in readaptation to a wholly new system of learning.

Now that the elementary language and distribution requirements have gone down the drain, it is high time that University Hall turn its attention to the problem of determining what criteria should be adopted to judge a man's fitness to enter into the broad field that the Freshman year is so properly becoming. Certainly some other standards than mere grades on College Boards must be selected. The problem is vital, and will take great pains to solve. In many ways it is a cause for wonder that with scholastic standards as diverse as they are in different sections of the United States there are not less misfits in each Freshmen class. That there are so few is a tribute to the Committee on Admissions, and to those faculty members who come into daily contact with Freshmen--though it is the sad truth that their Advisers cannot be included in this group.

At the same time the present system is haphazard, and with steadily increasing laxity of requirements in the college itself, there is immediate need for a Committee whose province should be first, to examine carefully and report on the several standards in the different classes of the country's schools, and second, to suggest means whereby individual Freshmen can receive really valuable advice on the problems arising because of their preparation.

On this latter point, the necessity of Advisers whose advice is available and valuable, the CRIMSON has been harping for several years. It is imperative that the University appreciate the significance of its liberality for Freshmen particularly, and face squarely the fact that the majority of Freshman Advisers are for one reason of little help as guides through the vicissitudes of Freshman year.