Reading Period Designed for Profs

The reading period of today, which gives students a chance to cram for exams, is the vestige of a practice originally designed for the benefit of the professors.

Faced with an increasingly busy staff of tutors and instructors, President A. Lawrence Lowell, a member of the class of 1977, decided in 1927 to give teachers a complete break for several weeks each semester from all except elementary courses. The time was designated for their own studies and research.

During this down time, students were expected to study on their own and to complete reading assignments. According to Lowell's writings, it was not a time for student review.

"It has been referred to by other colleges as the 'pre-examination reading period,' as if the object were to provide a chance for review," Lowell wrote in his President's Report of 1927-28.

"Curiously enough, this was never contemplated, the dates being fixed for quite different reasons of convenience; and, in fact, so much reading was assigned that there was no time for review," the report said.

Students who did well academically generally enjoyed the time for reading and independent study and were the strongest supporters of the plan.

In fact, a committee assigned to review the success of reading period in 1930 also saw the plan as one which catered to self-starting honors students--in contrast to the situation today, when a reading period without assignments seems best suited for those who slack off during the semester.

"As was to be expected, the subcommittee found that the Reading Periods are more generally favored by honors students...than by the general run of undergraduates," the 1930 committee report said. "The latter seem to take the plan as [a] matter of course without much enthusiasm for it or realization of its merits."

Committee members at the time also felt strongly that reading period needed to be lengthened. "There is a unanimousopinion that the reading period of 1929-30, whichwas only 13 days in length, was altogether tooshort." Administrators of today do not agree,apparently: the reading period this semester isonly 12 days in length.

Some members of the committee in 1930 arguedthat reading period should not come before exams.

"Many...were of the opinion that the positionof the reading period just before... examinationsis rather unfortunate, since this over-emphasizesthe examinations as the chief aim of the readingperiods and also causes students to use thereading periods largely as a time for review andpreparation for the course examinations," thecommittee report said.

Despite the heavy class assignments that haveall but vanished today, the reading period of 60years ago was already being used as a review bysome.

A member of the Class of 1934, who said hewould prefer to remain nameless, remembers readingperiod fondly.

"My recollection is that it was wonderfullyfree and easy," the 1934 graduate said. "But Ithink I used to use it pretty much for studyingfor exams.

Some members of the committee in 1930 arguedthat reading period should not come before exams.

"Many...were of the opinion that the positionof the reading period just before... examinationsis rather unfortunate, since this over-emphasizesthe examinations as the chief aim of the readingperiods and also causes students to use thereading periods largely as a time for review andpreparation for the course examinations," thecommittee report said.

Despite the heavy class assignments that haveall but vanished today, the reading period of 60years ago was already being used as a review bysome.

A member of the Class of 1934, who said hewould prefer to remain nameless, remembers readingperiod fondly.

"My recollection is that it was wonderfullyfree and easy," the 1934 graduate said. "But Ithink I used to use it pretty much for studyingfor exams.