Uprooting Tutoring

The professor concluded the last lecture of his course, sarcastically commenting: "I now turn you over to my unofficial colleagues in the Square." He was referring to the numerous tutoring schools in the University's vicinity which, during the 30's, would furnish students with outlines, resumes, and translations, give review ocssions, and write reports and theses--for a fee.

The founding of several new schools between 1931 and 1936 led to cutthroat competition between the various "intellectual brothels." It also led to a certain degree of specialization. Wolff's and Parker-Cramer, for instance, competed for the leadership in the field of widely advertised mass reviews. Fairfax Hall became important in the prepared notes and "trot" field. Whatever specialized programs the schools offered, they all made efforts to contact section men and instructors to find out the latest information--and possible exam questions--about courses. Sometimes they succeeded.

According to a Student Council survey in 1936, about two-thirds of the undergraduate body made some use of these schools' services. Few of the students thought it unethical. And until public opinion turned against the schools, the Dean of Students, A. Chester Hanford, did not feel that any rule outlawing the schools would be effective. As the CRIMSON stated in a front-page editorial on April 18, 1939, "Harvard's collective conscience has almost completely disappeared in this respect; students regularly cheat and feel no qualms about so doing."

Consequently, it was only in the spring of 1940 that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, upon the recommendation of Dean Hanford and other administrative leaders, voted to take action against any undergraduate using the services of a commercial tutoring school. Similar action had been taken for scholarship students three years earlier because, Dean Hanford explained, "We had more control over them." But it was still too early for such a regulation and there were flagrant violations.

When the Faculty finally made its decision, Harold A. Wolff announced he had "completed plans to withdraw completely from the field that has come to be called commerical tutoring . . . During the past three years . . . changes have been made that make tutoring in the old sense of the word contrary to the objectives of the College and therfore undesirable."

Wolff's exit was quickly followed by the other tutoring schools. Only twice since then has any one tried to resurrect some of their services. The first attempt was Lester S. Cramer's efforts to revive the remnants of the Parker-Cramer school from a Boston office in 1948. The second attempt, revealed last week, concerned a thesis-writing service which called itself "Editorial Consultants."

Neither of these services established itself on a permanent basis. In part, the reason for this can be explained by a sentence in the "Regulations for Students in Harvard College" which states, "A student is liable to disciplinary action if he makes use of the services of a commercial tutoring school." But a more basic reason lies in an essential change in the attitude of the undergraduate.