1943 CONCENTRATES

When Professor Merriman's place on the New lecture Hall rostrum is taken by a number of deans and teachers this morning, every Yardling ought to be in the audience. For the choice of a field of concentration is perhaps the most important decision the undergraduate has to make. All too often students, taking the line of least resistance, select the field which interested them most in high-school, or the one which seems to be most "practical." Only infrequently is any real consideration given to other possibilities. If today's meeting serves merely to jar the freshman into thinking about these alternatives, it will be worth its length in gold.

It is as easy to find someone to tag Harvard education as "over-specialized," as it is to get Martin Dies to say "un-American." But the criticism is undoubtedly justified. The Student Council in a recent report sought to correct excessive concentration by backing the "area" proposal, which would involve distribution of courses among three divisions--natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Perhaps an institutional reform along these lines will take place some day soon; meanwhile the Class of 1943 must do its own reforming. Its members should select their distribution courses with an eye to sampling each of the three areas--for those areas exist, even if they have as yet no formal recognition. And the choice of a field of concentration should also involve care; every possibility, from Art to Zoology, deserves at least to be thought about. If a little sensible consideration is given to these matters by each individual student, a genuine "liberal education" may yet become as commonplace as baked beans or apple-pie.