VACATIONS

Although length of vacations may seem too trivial a consideration to influence any serious minded person in the choice of his college, still it is true that the small and apparently needless annoyances are often the most irritating. To those who are contemplating the choice of a college, Harvard's present ill-planned vacations seem characteristic of her supposed attitude of unwillingness to sacrifice tradition for reason; to those who are here, it is merely a penalty which we are forced to pay in return for our superior educational opportunities.

Our Christmas recess, as prescribed in the college statutes, lasts from December 23 to January 2, inclusive, giving about eleven and a half days of vacation. In contrast with this meagre portion, Yale's recess lasted this year from Friday, December 17 at 1 P. M. to Tuesday, January 4 at 7.50 A. M:--a total of sixteen and a half days; while at Princeton, the vacation is also nearly half again as long as ours. The privilege which men who live in the west are given of signing off a day or so early, is slim compensation, for all lectures, laboratory and reading work missed during the absence must be made up; so a day gained at the start is balanced by an extra dose of work at the other end.

In addition to a Christmas vacation planned so that the Harvard student arrives at home four days after most of his friends and leaves a day or so in advance, the spring recess is timed so that it always falls at an inconvenient period. According to the statutes of the college, April 19 must be included in the spring vacation. This not only serves the worthy purpose of preventing students from receiving extra vacation on Patriot's Day, but also insures that any Harvard student seeking rest in his home town or in some spring resort will not be bothered by friends from any other institution. Yale and Princeton students, whose vacations come at the usual period during the last week in March, are not able to secure the pleasures that we enjoy in our splendid isolation.

It is difficult to offer any explanation for our present system, except that it has always been this way. Of course Yale and Princeton adherents claim that it takes us six days longer to acquire the same amount of knowledge as our colleagues,--but such an explanation is liable to challenge by our faculty.

The Harvard vacations at present are clearly not accommodated to students who come to Cambridge from a distance. If we do not consider other parts of the country in planning our schedule, should we expect them to consider us when choosing their college?