Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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liz Author of several volumes of poetry, Theodore Morrison edited Five Kind! oflV1'iti11g, the English A Bible. it less than those who are not, and men of real promise, cap- able of distinguished achievement, are deprived of the chance to develop their full powers by being denied a useful educa- tional aid for that development. If it is true, as it surely is, that in the humanities the The late Frederick G. White UMD, formerly instructor in English, chortles with Professors james B. Munn, Howard M. jones, and educational advantages of the tutorial system were greater than those of any substitute plan thus far tried, it behooves everyone interested in humane education to seek for means either of restoring the tutorial plan as it used to be or of de- vising some other scheme that will work as well. Dean Chester N. Greenough once declared that Where there is an educa- tional necessity there is no such thing as an administrative impossibilityf' This is a statement of an ideal which Harvard has pretty well lived up to in the past, there is every reason to hope that when it is recognized that the full tutorial plan in the humanities is a necessity, or at the very least, a major desir- ability, administrative impossibilityu will not be allowed for long to stand in the way of its restoration or of the provision of some truly adequate educational substitute. It is Now Tomorrow In the last analysis, however, the present and future of the study of the humanities at Harvard do not depend on formal methods. General Education, the tutorial plan, skilful lecturing, valid testing of aptitudes, and a host of other devices can all be of service, but ultimately success or failure comes from the quality of the teacher and the taught and the quality of their relation. The central value of humane study is that it takes its devotees into the heart of life, not into a realm apart. It involves not merely the individual's appreciation of objects which please or interest him but far more importantly his power to construct standards by which to live, to make wise human judgments, to develop enduring equalities of character, and to fill a worthy place in a healthy society. Books, music, and objects of art have no lasting virtue when they are divorced from a living context. The problem for the teacher and the student is to study them first in and for themselves and to know them for what they are, without ever losing sight of the H. E. Rollins in Warren House. Munn gives courses on the Bible and Browning, Rollins is a scholar of the Romantic Period. .-t, ,,,,,n,.,,,,..,.,f-..,-, .M - - rv' ' pri k '5

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Howard Mumford jones gives literature a social slant, is a past President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 21 SIU- dent of American and 18th century English literature- college training than he could possibly have if he had been limited to classroom work. The tutorial system was volun- tary, a student might, if he wished, make no use of it, but nearly everyone did. Although there were abuses of the meth- Od, occasional poor tutors, and some undergraduates wh0 persisted in trying to make tutorial conferences into cram- ming sessions to compensate for neglect of work, the bene- Hts of the system heavily outweighed its defects. With the introduction of the tutorial plan came an increase in the buy- ing and use of books by students, and an increase in the num- ber of honors candidates. Visiting teachers declared that Harvard students, however similar their course training and backgrounds, often seemed to think, talk, and write more ably than their fellow-undergraduates in institutions where no tutorial system existed. The Case for Tutorial Unhappily the system at Harvard, however great its educational advantages, presented grave practical difiiculties. It was expensive to employ tutors and the necessity of having a large staff sometimes led to the appointment of mediocrities and often to serious problems of tenure, since only a few of the younger men employed to tutor could hope for promotion. For the present at least these difficulties have been found in- surmountable and the tutorial system has been sadly cut down. In general the privilege of tutorial instruction on the complete individual basis has been limited to honors candidates or at 'l49l least to the men with distinguished grades in courses. Group conferences have often replaced individual meetings of student and tutor and for concentrators with the lowest records a plan of advising, often highly perfunctory, has been made the imperfect substitute for tutorial work. There is in theory a good case to be made for these changes. Why should weak students, with little ability or interest, be given costly indi- vidual instruction from which they are unwilling or unable to profit? Why not limit such instruction to the best men, those most worthy of such educational nurture and most able to make good use of it? Put thus, the questions allow for no serious argument, but neither touches the central issue. How can the ability and interest of students be justly measured, how can the really best men for tutorial privileges be fairly chosen? Course grades, especially in the first two years of college, often fail to tell the whole story, and some men rake so long to discover what they most want to do that they do not reveal their real talents until it is, as things are now, too late for them to earn the right to be tutored. Many teachers agree that the merit of the old system was that some men were awakened by sophomore tutorial work to do better throughout college than they would have otherwise, and that tutoring often transformed C men into successful honors candidates. Many agree that some honors candidates with the highest grades in courses actually need tutoring less and get less from it than their brethren whose ability is not so easily measured in marks and whose capacity for independent work is not yet trained. Ideally the choice between those who are to be tu- tored and those who are not, ifa choice is to be made, should be based on a complete evaluation of the individual's poten- tialities as well as his performance in the classroom. Such evaluations are rarely possible. The result is that at present there is reason to fear that many of the benefits of the old scheme have been lost. Students are being tutored who need Harry Levin is a keen critic of modern literature. His book on james joyce is considered the definitive work.

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l Erwin Panofsky of the Institute for Advanced Study held the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry last year. Yearly appointments to this famous Chair are made at infrequent intervals. fact that their very existence and nature are clues to essential ways of thought and life. If the arts are merely decorations for living, or idle diversions, they need little study, if they are only tools for the psychologist, economist, or historian, they are useful but only as imperfect instruments. Only when they are seen as in their own right fundamental elements in the Order of human life, expressions of basic modes of thought, and the ultimate communication of essential experience and faith, do they appear in their true colors, and only in that light does their study produce the values we need. To quote once more the writer of Harvard Today in the 1943 Album, the fight of students of the humanities will not end even when peace has been restored . In the war years their weapons were guns, tomorrow, as educated men, their weapons will JAMES WARE FREDERIC L, WELLS Assn:-inte l,I'UfL'HHlYI' of Chinese Asaislxuili lliwfi-ssui' of Psyi-lmlngy elsif ' JOSHUA WHATMOUGH lk . N , , , DONALD CARY WILLIAMS roll-ssnr of cf1lllIDlLl'3lflYl' Pllilnlngy 11,-,,ft.gs,,r,,f philnsnlyhv HARRY A. WOLFSON GEORGE KINGSLEY ZIPF N:i!h:m Litliuu-r l'rofa-ssur of Lluiwl-,lily 1,4-4-g,,m.r lluhrow lilfil'l'lliilll't' :mud Pliilnsnplly ' be their ideas. It is now tomorrow. The battle has not ended with the promise of peace. Ideas are still weapons, and it is still the opportunity and the obligation of the teacher and student of the humanities, in college or out of it, to fight with them for the salvation ofa gravely threatened world. Arthur Darby Nock, an encyclopedia of early Christian and Hebrew lore, is noted for his sharp wit, cane, and swinging stride.