HARVARD'S PATERNALISM

At this time of recapitulation, it may seem adding insult to injury to regard the problems of men who seek to complete the college course in three years. Such men do, nevertheless, exist, and should be considered as well as their more usual classmates. The college does this minority an injustice by piling an extra course upon their already heavily burdened shoulders, and by so doing, increases their problems disproportionately. This extra course rule, to all intents and purposes, means that the three-year man must carry six courses in one year and five for two years, or else go to summer school. If the ordinary requirements for the four-year student were maintained, however, he could take five sources each year, or six in the first and four in the last. It is by no means apparent why a man should be thus doubly discouraged by the University simply because he seeks to do his work more expeditiously than his comrades.

The old line argument is that four years is a good period of study, and that a man is only educated after living in college for four years. It is true that this period suits a great majority of college men, that most of them "feel just about old enough to graduate" after matriculating for the usual number of years. On the other hand, the fact stands firm and irrefutable that tastes and temperatments differ, and that a man should be fire to make his own choice in a question so uniquely concerning himself.

The only leg the college has to stand on in keeping this rule on the books is the doubtful postulate that a man will absorb more by osmosis in four years than he will by continued application in three. The surprising minimum of effort expended by some students tends to refute this belief. The point here is that many students do not seize the opportunity provided for true education at Harvard, and would not if the period were extended form four to forty years. These men do only the required forms of work, and the time they wish to take to do it should be made a matter of free choice.

Many undergraduates have urgent reasons for wishing to do the normal, allotted work as quickly as possible. In their paths is thrown the stumbling block of the extra rule, without apparent regard for the most ordinary principles of justice. A flexible educational; program must consider the differing demands of various intellects, and eliminate rigid and ill-considered restrictions.