TEXT BOOKS

Reading assignments have been announced in most courses by now. It is impossible on the whole to evaluate the worth of the work allotted. However one pernicious habit continues. Men giving courses still assign a book written by themselves as the major, or one of the important texts in the course.

It would be unfair to suppose that this is done for mercenary purposes. In most instances the book is assigned because the professor feels that it sets forth his point of view or because he feels that it is the best treatment of the subject. The practice does not however make for the best conduct of a course. The man giving the course has lectures in which to present his viewpoint. Reading should be devoted to presenting the point of view of others. At most small assignments in the lecturer's text should suffice to supplement class discussion.

If this rule were more generally followed the quality of lectures would improve. In too many instances they have degenerated into a re-hash of the written work. Secure in the knowledge that their book is being read the lecturers are not spurred to clarity or force in their discourse. Lectures and library work are two separate phases of instruction. A laziness that lets the one deteriorate because the other can be substituted should not be tolerated.