Science in the Houses

Although the College's seven Houses have accomplished much in the past twenty-five years, they have never quite managed to replace the laboratories as a home for science concentrators. This Thursday in Kirkland House, however, eight upperclassmen majoring in Chemistry, Physics, and the Applied Sciences will meet with an instructor in a new Natural Science tutorial--a significant attempt to bring science concentrators into closer contact with the House System. Announced just a week ago, Kirkland's experimental program in the natural and physical sciences immediately attracted more volunteers than it can handle. Meanwhile the idea of an unofficial science tutorial has already spread to Adams House. Such a plan, if it sustains undergraduate interest, can help considerably to "liberalize" the education of science concentrators at the College.

Like any other teaching endeavor, the new tutorial plan will succeed only if its subject matter is valuable and interesting. In this case the students and their instructor will have complete freedom to choose their own field of study, and the diversity of the Kirkland residents who have joined the program--representing all Rank Groups and many varieties of scientific interest--augurs well for a non-specialized curriculum that will effectively complement the regular science courses. The science tutorial should not become simply another Natural Sciences course, just as it should probably avoid the suggested possibility of investigating various vocational opportunities in scientific fields. A study of the philosophy or methodology of science, if it interested the students involved, might constitute worthwhile subject matter.

But whatever the new tutorial groups decide to study, the science Departments should certainly watch these experiments closely and--if they prove successful--consider the possibility of incorporating an official tutorial in their programs. Referring to normal adoption of a science tutorial by the Departments, Master Gordon M. Fair of Dunster has said that "the University moves quite slowly in these matters." Such a program could be so valuable, however, that this time it might be advisable to move a little faster.