IMPULSE AND REACTION

The writer of the communication printed in this column has called to the attention of the University something which is badly needed in the present curriculum. In fact this something is so badly needed that it is strange that the gap has not before this been filled. That the average Englishman is more interested in the government of his country and consequently knows more about it than the average American is a widely accepted fact. Perhaps in recognition of this, educators and prominent men throughout the country are constantly advocating the teaching of citizenship in public schools. They could, therefore, with much reason point the finger of scorn at Harvard for not requiring of its students any knowledge of their country's government or Constitution.

Undergraduates and others will perhaps object to adding another requirement when the general trend in college education appears to be away from requirements. If to add this would be to break the camel's back, then it would be far better to take off some other part of the load. Certainly if the government of the country is to be good and therefore to last, it must be served by the best educated men in the country. And to serve it at all those men must have at least some smatterings of intelligence about its workings. Unfortunately Americans on the whole have never taken enough interest in their government to study it carefully on their own initiative; therefore the interest must be created by requirement.

As to what method shall be used here, a general examination somewhat after the fashion of the French and German examinations is more commendable than a required course. The best time for the examination would perhaps be late in the Junior year. Moreover it might be well to establish an optional course, full or half, which would deal primarily with the material to be covered by the examination. The important thing, however, is to get the need of a citizenship requirement generally recognized both by the undergraduate and by the college authorities. For by the dictates of psychology, an impulse will inevitably express itself in some action.