Re-Opening the Debate

FOR MORE THAN 40 years, on the first day of exam period. The Crimson has devoted its Opinion Page to an unquestionably worthy pursuit--the search for ways to ace Harvard exams.

It all started when Donald Carswell '50 published his blueprint for "Beating the System" on June 12, 1950. The next year, Carswell's piece won the Dana Reed Prize for excellence in undergraduate writing. And twice a year since then, The Crimson has reprinted his story for the benefit of Harvard students struggling to succeed on their finals.

In 1962, an anonymous grader sent us a pithy response to Carswell's piece, and his advice, "Grader's Reply," has run alongside it ever since.

IT'S TIME for something new. Carswell's three methods for beating the system--a strategy The Crimson has legitimized more than 80 times on this page--virtually guarantee a plunge into the recesses of Group IV.

Especially horrific is his idea for the artful equivocation, an example of which reads, "...It is not a question of the cart before the horse in either case, merely the old problem of which came first, the chicken or the egg." Did this kind dreck get Carswell into grad school?

And the Garder's Reply--though it adeptly points out Carswell's biggest flaws--doesn't give Harvard students a good guide for cracking the system. Anyway, we're tired of printing his sexist jokes about Cliffies' handwriting.

SO WE'RE offering a challenge to our readers. For next semester's exam period, we want to replace the two anachronisms below with the new ideas on how to get an A without investing too much time studying.

Students and graders alike are welcome to submit their ideas--long or short, witty of serious. Send your thoughts to: Editorial Chairs, The Harvard Crimson, 14 Plympton Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.