CEP Subcommittee Plans to Study Causes for Drop-Outs From Sciences

The Committee on Educational Policy admissions subcommittee will study the problem posed by the large number of Freshmen who change their minds each year about concentrating in the Natural Sciences, Franklin L. Ford, associate professor of History and chairman of the group, announced yesterday.

In the class of 1961, for example, the number of students planning to major in the Natural Sciences decreased from 47 to 34 per cent of the class between the time of admission and the end of the Freshman year, a recent survey showed.

Commenting on the problem, Leonard K. Nash, associate professor of chemistry, said, "I do not see any panacea. However, I am not sure the situation is serious because most of the people who drop out are not suited to be scientists anyway."

Many of the students who decide not to continue in the field of science do so because they come to college with false ideas concerning the work of a scientist, Dean Bundy pointed out. President Pusey suggested as the reason for this misconception the fact that many high school teachers are not professional scientists.

Nash attributed the loss of prospective science concentrators to "a perfectly pedestrian explanation." Freshmen lose interest in science when they discover that college courses are primarily concerned with "the gory details of quantitative calculations," he explained.

Agreeing with Nash, Dean von Stade said it would be a "great mistake" to try to prevent Freshmen from switching out of science. Pointing out that concentration in science requires many labs and numerous course prerequisites, von Stade said that only those "willing to make the necessary sacrifices" should continue in the field.

Ford stated that his committee would consider the drop-off of science concentrators "in connection with other problems rather than specifically by itself." Another committee member, Alwin M. Pappenheimer, Jr., professor of Biology, added that it was very important for the group to investigate the scientific background of the average applicant in order to determine "where science fits into a liberal education today."