TIME OUT

Everybody knows the recurring bad dream in which he is straining every muscle to cross a railroad track ahead of an oncoming locomotive and cannot quite make it. Usually he wakes up shuddering just before the train hits. Very much the same situation confronts the Senior now, with the specter of Divisionals looming up closer and closer before him,-only without the saving grace of waking up and finding it all a dream. Preparation to meet the Divisionals is as hopelessly futile for the average Senior as attempts to get away from the engine in the nightmare. For all that can be said against cramming in the last few weeks, it is impossible to spread over a long time the final review necessary for the fingertip knowledge required in the Divisional Examinations. In the meantime, all other work, tests, reports, weekly quizzes, naturally suffers. The additional burden of daily work under such circumstances tends to spill the whole load.

Without revolutionizing the system it seems reasonable that this extra pressure should be reduced as much as possible. Several instructors already have exempted Seniors from tests in the coming two weeks and others have extended the time limit for Seniors on term reports. If this were made a general custom the back of the pre-Divisional grind would be broken. The main objection, apparently, that has prevented such action is the fear that a precedent would be established giving the students an opening for further letting down of the bars. There seems to be no real grounds for such a fear. If a fretting horse is given free rein, it does not mean he is running away, as long as the means to hold him in check remain. The whole plan of Divisional Examinations is superimposed bodily on the old system of college work. To prevent it from defeating its own ends; to have it work smoothly side by side with the old requirements still unchanged; some allowance for adjustments must be made.