SENIOR COURSES

Among the ghosts of the Old or PreTutorials Regime that still rise to plague undergraduates in 1930 is the requirement of April grades in courses taken by Seniors. Students in Chemistry, the only field still holding out against Divisionals, of course have no reason to be excused from course requirements after Midyears of their Senior year; but in all other fields, and particularly with regard to men who are writing honors theses, the present system is more than annoying. The three months between Midyears and Divisionals is a small enough time for two such tasks as writing a thesis and studying for Divisionals, without the added burden of from two to four courses to which at least a little attention must be paid, in order to make sure of a passing grade in April.

The ultimate abolition of all course requirements for Seniors after Midyears is not so remote a possibility as it was a few years ago; but it is a more that still demands considerable deliberation before it is adopted, and that is naturally impracticable as long as there is any field without Divisionals. In the meantime, the existing unjust and excessively difficult concentration of labor in the last half year of the Senior year should be corrected as far as possible. Men writing theses for honors should be excused from all courses excepts such as are necessary for completion of their Distribution requirements, and for students whose Midyear average is sufficiently high, these two could well be dispensed with. It is no longer the tutorial system that is the fifth wheel, but those Senior courses that it should by now have completely displaced.