Eastern College Seminar Yields Subjects for Future Discussions

The three-day seminar on education sponsored by Harvard and Columbia students was "quite fruitful, mainly for the questions it raised," Marc E. Leland '59, president of the student Council, reported last night.

"We discovered several topics for use at future conferences," Leland said. Two of the most interesting questions posed during the conference centered around the wide disparity between the educational philosophies of men's and women's colleges and the role of science in different general education programs.

The delegates heard a talk Saturday morning by Quentin Anderson, head of Columbia's Humanities Department, on "The General Education Program," in which the speaker held that the purpose of any general education program is "to make a whole man."

He claimed that more emphasis should be placed on science in this type of program, and, moreover, that the function of such a plan ought to be performed by the high schools, two assertions which occasion subsequent discussion.

Later John G. Palfrey '40, Dean of Columbia College, praised Harvard's tutorial system, stating that many Eastern schools should and could institute tutorial but that this was not possible every where.

In discussion following Dean Palfrey's address, the fact that women's colleges tend to get more general in the junior and senior years while most men's colleges point towards specialization formed the basis for much comment.

Another seminar, which will meet at the College in spring under the direction of Student Council members Lewis B. Oliver, Jr. '61, and Eugene H. Zagat, Jr. '61, is being planned.