HOW TO DE-EMPHASIZE

In the interest of athletes desiring to insure teaching positions through their coaching ability, Dartmouth college has instituted courses in athletic theory as applied to four specific sports. The new courses are under the direction of the Department of Physical Education, and instructors have been drawn from the college coaching staffs. In an editorial comment, the daily Dartmouth college the new policy as "progressive, de-emphasizing athletics," and suggests that, if successful, it will probably be extended next fall so that Juniors may take courses embracing all sports, and Seniors may specialize in one particular field.

In pursuing such a policy, Dartmouth has added still more weight to Dr. Flexner's searching criticism of American colleges. The prerequisite of coaching ability in prospective instructors has unfortunately been adopted by many schools and colleges. But that fact will hardly excuse Dartmouth, professedly a cultural institution, for hiding behind the shield of "de-emphasis" in order to attract new students by the promise of a profitable vocational training. Men intending to enter other vocations have felt the same needs, but it is still the universally accepted duty of the truly cultural college not to train a man technically for some specific occupation, but to give him a broad background in the humanities and exercise in the art of adaptive thinking. By instituting her new course for prospective coaches, Dartmouth has aligned herself in the ranks of that group of colleges which include in their curricula courses in library science, home economics, and hog-calling.