ACADEMIC FASHIONS, 1940

French F and German F are entitled "Introduction to France" and "Introduction to Germany," respectively, but that is about all they have in common this year. The French course used to deal largely with French art, literature, history, political organization, etc., but in the fall of 1940 it turned up in new dress. So far this year it has concentrated on the present situation of France, to the exclusion of almost all the old material. Professor Andre Morize, Andre Maurois, and Father Ducatillon, a Dominican monk, have given lectures on various phases of beaten and divided France. The hour exams now ask: What is the line of German occupation? What French colonies have joined De Gaulle? and Why does Marshal Petain ask for a return to the soil? Most of the students subscribe to a small magazine, "Voici la France de ce Mois," which gives a monthly picture of the country. Current newspaper and magazine articles, radio broadcasts, and films play an important part in the work. All in all, French F has become an interesting current events course.

German F, by contrast, leans over backward to avoid touching on present-day Germany. It sticks closely to the cultural and political history of Germany in the "good old days" of the minnesingers, Albrecht Durer, Frederick the Great, and perhaps Bismarck. (The German Club does the same thing, of course.)

If public opinion permitted it, German F could probably manage to present a fair and rounded picture of Nazi Germany. There are many German refugees available as speakers, and plenty of written material of varying interest. But obviously it is "politically impossible." If the course were not practically pure anti-Nazi propaganda, it would be attacked by hordes of well-meaning patriots, and very likely persecuted out of existence, even though in some future day the Germany of Adolph Hitler will probably be a far more important object of study than the Vichy government or occupied France. Thus does Harvard keep abreast of the latest fashions in scholarship and patriotic sentiment.