SOCIAL SERVICE

In addition to the valuable and essential function of education which the Summer School performs, it provides another service certainly less essential but as prominent for those who for some reason or other spend their vacation at Harvard. It is well known that during July and August the Yard becomes a very happy hunting ground for local Dianas and it is common knowledge that their presence makes it a watering-place for willing prey. Fun and games relieve the long six-week term for some, and probably account for the greater popularity of co-educational summer sessions.

To sacrifice the female element on the alter of higher scholarship would be foolish opposition to an educational method which has met with success in many places. In at least one respect the College in the summer approaches most closely President Lowell's definition of one of those places where you get as much as you put into it, for education is not innoculated but voluntary. Fortunately the administration here has not sponsored many social activities, trusting rather the persistent ingenuity of hunters and huntresses, and thereby has avoided diverting those who really come to pursue learning. There are too many glorified mesas further west where Summer Queens, Proms, Moonlight Hay Rides, and a college-sponsored social routine make the short term more enjoyable and cheaper than any high-powered vacation resort.

In the Yard more students enrolled in courses take the final examinations and pass them than in other universities where the bursar's receipt is an admission ticket to amusement parks as well as class rooms. Relaxed standards are defects as inherent in summer schools as the high temperatures, but at least Harvard has made the wise choice of offering fewer appetizers with the substantial food rather than sating the palate.