Dean Sees Tutorial Reform

The following paragraphs on the Tutorial System are quoted from Dean Hanford's Annual Report.

The plan established by the History Department and put into effect this year for the first time except for seniors will be watched with considerable interest by other departments and by all who are concerned with the problems of the tutorial and general examination systems.

If further investigation and study by the Faculty and departments show that it is necessary to make modifications in the tutorial system throughout the College, the changes should be worked out in such a manner that the plan will be strengthened and none of the progress of the last quarter century endangered. This means that every student should be given full time tutorial instruction in his sophomore year in order to get him off to a good start in his field of concentration, give him the advantage of thorough tutorial instruction for one year and also provide the tutor and department with complete information on the basis of which the type of instruction which he is to receive during the remaining two years may be determined. After the sophomore year those who have given evidence of being able to profit most fully from regular tutorial instruction should be given weekly individual conferences. Those students who are to be provided with less intensive tutorial work should be assigned to tutors for general advice about their courses and about readings which will help them gain a better understanding of their chosen subject and should be seen less frequently for tutorial conferences, perhaps only half as often as those receiving regular tutorial instruction. It seems to me essential that all upperclassmen concentrating in fields having general examinations and tutors should be assigned to tutors and not merely to advisers. The fact that the Houses are intended as educational units and not merely as residence halls makes this especially important. One of the most serious dangers to be avoided is that members of the teaching staff may come to look upon partial tutorial instruction as a perfunctory matter, an attitude which can have only undesirable effects upon the work which is done by the undergraduates.

It would seem that such differentiation in methods of tutorial instruction as are made after the sophomore year should not be based merely on course grades or on the student's technical qualifications for honors, but on the question as to whether the student so far as can be determined by his tutor's opinion, by all the other available evidence, and by his own attitude and interests is able to profit from a type of work which places a large degree of responsibility upon the student himself. This is perhaps the most important and also the most difficult of all the problems involved, and upon its proper solution will depend the success or failure of any modifications that may have to be worked out.

In the second place, the arrangements should be so flexible that a student who requires only partial tutorial instruction may, if he later decides that he wants to take advantage of the privilege of more intensive tutorial work and gives evidence of his ability and interest to profit from such work, be given the opportunity.

In the third place, for those students who are to receive only partial tutorial instruction and who will, therefore, be expected to gain an understanding of their subject and to prepare for the general examinations more heavily by course work, it will be necessary to restore the old course requirement of sixteen courses in addition to prescribed English.

He needs the additional course to give him the necessary understanding of his field. It is also probable that more frequent hour examinations and other tests will have to be given in courses for the men who are not receiving full time tutorial instruction and that the practice of reporting attendance will have to be restored.

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In the case of candidates for honors, it would perhaps be advisable to provide for a more liberal reduction in the number of courses than is now possible. At present, especially qualified candidates for honors may, upon the recommendation, of their respective departments and with the approval of the Administrative Board, be excused from two courses in their junior and senior years in order to devote more time to tutorial work. It would be well to authorize a reduction of either three or four courses in the last two years so as to give time for an even greater amount of independent work.

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Fourthly, although all students concentrating in a field should be required to take the same basic general examination, a modification in tutorial instruction will necessitate certain readjustments in the general examinations so as to take account of the variations in preparation. This can be done by the inclusion of certain questions which are intended especially for men who have received full-time tutorial instruction or by the setting of certain additional examinations for such men. As a matter of fact, such variations have been in use for some time, and no new principle would be involved in making the procedure more general.

Finally, consideration should be given to the desirability of distributing the function of tutoring over a larger number of the permanent members of the Faculty. In this way it would be possible to reduce the rapid turnover that would otherwise be necessary, increase the opportunity for promotion for a larger number of young tutors of ability, strengthen the tutorial staff, and improve the quality of tutorial instruction.

Exceptions would have to be made, of course, in the case of some of the older members of the Faculty, for whom the readjustment of methods would be difficult, and for certain others who are engaged in special research, writing, the direction of graduate students, or other work which demands the greater part of their time.