THE FIRST TWO DAYS

On the principle of an ounce of prevention, colleges are focusing their attention more and more on the entering Freshmen. Greater care in regard to admission requirements, such as the University's admirable new rule in regard to written English, is one sign of this attention another may be seen at Yale, where a special committee of the Faculty has been created to devote itself to freshman problems. More recent, and much more interesting, is the unique plan of the University of Maine. Next September the entire freshman class is to be assembled a full week before the regular opening of college. A special effort will be made to welcome the newcomers; they will be introduced to their surroundings and will have plenty of time to become acclimated before the actual routine begins. In this way the all-important first few days can be used to best advantage, and the usual delay and waste will be avoided. No doubt the President feels that early-season practice is as desirable and as justifiable in scholastic matters as it is in football.

Yet the mechanism of this scheme appears a trifle unwieldy, and certainly it has its objection. It ought to be possible to accomplish the same results at Harvard in a less laborious fashion. By crowding a little more "welcome" into the two days that now intervene between enrolment and classes, the freshmen can be given much better adjustment than they have had in the past. And the means is at hand--the Student Advisory Committee. With its work well outlined already, and its plans made for immediate action in the autumn the Committee's effectiveness will be infinitely improved. It remains for the newly-appointed advisors to carry out their responsibilities, and 1927 will be spared many of the trouble of former classes. The meeting for all advisors tonight will explain the new plan and set it in working order.