Report on Three Years Course.

The annual report of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences contains an interesting review of the Faculty discussions and action in reference to the three years' degree. It concludes with the following opinion, expressed by a Faculty committee, on the present situation and the proper methods for meeting it:

"There exists at present a demand for a three years College course on the part of a large and increasing number of students, of whom a majority,--about two-thirds in the last five years-- remain in the University for graduate or professional study. It is desirable that the work required of these students should be such that it can be performed in a wholesome and profitable manner, without imposing too great a strain either on the students themselves or on the standard of the courses which they take. At the same time a large majority of our students, from preference or force of tradition, still adhere to the four years' course . . . Such being the case, it is highly desirable that each of the two courses should stand, as far as possible, on its own intrinsic merits, neither favored nor discriminated against by technical regulations. Each, in its own way, may be expected to have attractions for the serious-minded student, according to his temperament or his circumstances,--the three years course as one by which, with greater concentration on his studies, he may advance by a year his entrance on professional or special study or into active life; the four years course as affording time for more extended or better digested intellectual work, as well as for the other opportunities and legitimate interests of College life. It would be unfortunate if the three years course should continue to carry with it the implication of over-hasty work, or if the four years course should come to be regarded as a resort for the indolent."