OLD PLAN OF ADMISSION MODIFIED.

Two changes of importance are included in the modification, just adopted, of the Old Plan of Admission to Harvard College. In the first place, an attempt has been made to foster the study of Greek by requiring one less examination if the candidate offers both elementary Greek and Latin. A change has been made in the nomenclature of the examination system: instead of requiring 26 "points" for admission the candidate must pass in studies amounting to 16 1-2 "units" of school work, a unit amounting approximately to one-fourth year of school work. However, provided the applicant for admission offers both elementary Latin and Greek he will be allowed to enter with 15 1-2 units of school work. Just how much influence this provision will exert in increasing the study of Greek is hard to say. At present most of those who are studying Greek are doing so to teach it later; and so it goes on, teachers instructing future teachers. This state of affairs may be likened to a dog chasing its own tail and finally dropping exhausted through his efforts. The aversion for the Greek may be too fundamental to be eliminated by a subsidy on the subject in the form of fewer requirements for admission to College. However, results will be watched with great interest. The second change initiated by the modified Old Plan aims to lay emphasis on the quality as well as the quantity of work done in preparation for admission. When a candidate has not enough units to qualify for unconditional admission, his examination books and school record will receive careful consideration. The result is as it should be, that requirements for admission will vary with individual records.