DISCUSSION GROUPS.

Announcement of the plans for the re-establishment of weekly Discussion Groups similar to those of last year is of special interest to a considerable number in the University. The support which was accorded to the groups of last year in spite of the exacting demands of military duties has shown that they supply a real need in the college life of the student. It is also quite evident that the idea may be developed so as to create an important addition to the opportunities incident to life in the University, which are not listed in the pamphlet of courses. The undergraduate is chronically censured for his supposed lack of interest in the problems relating to national life. As a stock criticism of "things as they ought not to be" in the student example of higher education, it has been a constant boon to writers when all other subjects failed. However, while we do feel that a surprisingly strong case might be argued for the undergraduate, yet the lack of interest, and therefore of knowledge, concerning issues of the day is a great deal more common than it ought to be.

The Discussion Groups are designed to stimulate and direct the habit of accurate thinking in the student in regard to the pros and cons of current problems. Members of the groups are guided in the discussions by volunteers from the Faculty, who are well qualified to present the problems in their true forms, stripped of interested prejudice and popular fallacies. The large variety of national and international questions available for consideration assures an abundance of excellent subject matter. Not only will members of the groups increase their understanding of affairs of current discussion in the press, but they will derive benefit from the informal association with the Faculty leaders who otherwise may enter but vaguely into their lives. In addition, the part which each may take in open discussion will afford a valuable sort of training to the individual. In fact, the profit received will be so well worth the time spent, that each member of the University who can possibly do so should arrange to enter one of the groups as soon as they are formed.