TIMING ADVICE

In spite of the fact that there has been much of talking, writing, and theorizing about the Faculty Advisers, and in spite of the fact that we have them now, the present situation is far from satisfactory. The cause of dissatisfaction can be summed up in one phrase the advisors do not advice. In the main the blame cannot be laid upon them; they are the victims of circumstances circumstances that limit the amount of time they might devote to the work of advising, that prevent their following all the changes in courses, that draw their interest elsewhere. The beginnings busy times, when members of the Faculty have innumerable details to attend to; if forced to keep hours for advisors, they are handicapped, particularly if the advises come at scattered times so that advisers have to sit and twiddle thumbs while, waiting.

The adviser is one of the most important points of contact, but too often has it in his power to pile up difficulties for a student by guiding him into courses for which he has no qualifications; it happens not infrequently that such advice has been the chief cause of a student's failure in his college work. The present arrangement ought to be changed to meet that drawback. A first step has been taken by providing students with advisers in their departments of concentration; that helps, although the student still often knows more about the courses outside (sometimes inside) his department.

All classes are assigned advisers; yet why Juniors and Seniors need them is not easily apparent. Any student who has been here for two years but has not acquired sufficient Information about courses deserves to have bad Jack in choosing them; incidentally it is a confession of weakness on the part of the College if it must admit that it cannot impart such information during the first two years. It does; and many members of the two upper classes will say that their method is to fill out the study card, visit advisor, and say, "sign here". Usually he adviser is glad to quiet his conscience and do it to save time. Sometimes perfunctory questions are asked, but that is usually the limit.

As has been noted, one of the greatest, if not the greatest handicap is lack, of time for advisers. By abolishing the regulation requiring that upperclassmen have advisers the number of advisees per faculty member could be reduced by nearby one-half. Then more time could be given to the individual cases which is the all important element. And the services of any too busy or too proud to advice could be eliminated.