LETTERS OF MARK

The upward trend of the marks made by undergraduates in November hours comes as no surprise, either in that grades have improved or because of its details. The grades of the College have risen to the extent that there are 1.6 per cent less unsatisfactory records this year than there were last, an improvement of about five per cent in the Freshman class, and approximately one per cent among Juniors and Sophomores; in contrast the Senior class has a few more failures than the class of 1932.

The explanation of every phenomenon of the present day is, of course, the depression. Lack of money is in a large part responsible for better marks. An empty purse removes that itching urge to waste golden hours at the theatre or in the more flamboyant dance halls. There are fewer of the enormous coming-out parties which prove such a drain on the time of undergraduates. The increased competition for scholarships has had a most salutary effect.

The depression is not the only factor in this trend, however, and it is not the most important. The House Plan is this year just getting into regular operation, and it is undoubtedly a reason for the improvement; the fact that the Senior class, the class which has enjoyed only two years of the House Plan, has made a poorer record than the Juniors and Sophomores to whom spires and quadrangles are in the natural order of things, goes to prove the point. There is also a tendency for college students to put more emphasis on intellectual activities, and to care more for knowledge than for sports, movies, and waxed floors adorned by debutantes.

This last factor is not completely independent of the depression and the scholastic atmosphere of the Houses, but it is the most important of the three. Better grades at Harvard mean, not that standards have fallen, but that the student is becoming more mature and more interested in his work. If the present conditions continue there is good reason to expect that colleges will become less and less fields to be sown with wild oats, and more the institutions of higher education which the proper attitude of students should permit them to be.