THE SILENT SEX

Without in the least disparaging the efforts of either of the two organizations at the University promoting public speaking, it can be admitted that on topics of wide current interest the usual undergraduate is, and under present conditions likely to continue to be, tongue-tied. The Debating Union, an excellent idea developing gradually, serves but a few men; and the Debating Council, through debates scheduled with other universities, serves yet fewer.

This ever-increasing silence has only recently fallen upon the undergraduate, if the memories of graduates among the Faculty may be trusted upon this point, and is largely a local phenomenon if the testimony of conditions at Yale and Princeton given at a recent debating conference may be a criterion. Yale, working perhaps from the top downwards, has an increased number of debates with outside colleges; while Princeton, applying stimulus at a more vital point, has interested something over an average of two hundred men in bi-monthly forums where discussion is free and open.

A slight pressure and a strong irritant seem to be needed to remove the impediment blocking the route from the undergraduate's mind to his voice. Where classroom discussion is at all possible it should turn less upon matters of fact, mere question and answer, and more upon matters of opinion, a method followed for an example in the Economics department. Since so large a proportion of the undergraduate body is affected by the tutorial system, verbal reports to tutors instead of the frequent written reports might loosen a tongue or two.

Two stimulants seem available. As at Princeton, where a nationally known speaker addresses the forum and directs the following discussion, provision might be made either for a speaker to address the Debating Union his very reputation insuring a crowd, or arrangements made for prolonged discussion following out of the regular speakers in the usual Harvard Union series. And finally something might be achieved by having several members of the Faculty, members closely and constantly in touch with the students, encourage and direct undergraduate effort in discussion. Such faculty supervision has definitely promoted discussion in other universities, and is responsible at our own for a large part of the success in dramatic work and choral singing, to mention none of the other activities.