PROGRESS BY ERROR

The communication which appears in another column is indeed timely, for, as the Senior class questionnaire supposed, although the Senior may not yet feel capable of constructive thought, he is in the best possible position analytically to reconsider the last four years of study. Had the Seniors responded conscientiously to the questionnaire a summary of the replies would result in some very valuable suggestions, but with the conclusions which this writer reaches everyone will not agree.

In the first place, few would consider restricting the Freshman with more rules than already surround him and to force him to see his Senior Advisor would simply be formulating another rule. It would also be a pernicious rule, destroying that invaluable contact between the first and the fourth year classes which it was intended to promote. Pressure to produce the contact might gently be applied upon the Senior, but when put upon the Freshman it raises the Senior to the innocuous position of a faculty advisor.

One might also wish to differ with the writer's conclusions upon the mechanics of recording information gathered in college. Any system beyond the barest fundamentals is highly individual; some men retain more of a lecture through scrawling cryptic notes in margins than do others by recording it word for word. The essential information regarding these matters of routine might be given in one short talk.

The writer, in short, states one view of the function of college very clearly, a view which one fears is shared by many another reminiscent Senior. To them it is essentially a four year long draught from the bowl of information. But information is not knowledge, and knowledge can seldom be found in an undergraduate card-index. One might say that the adjustments which a Freshman makes whether in methods of study or more subtle ways of thinking, are a vital part of that carefully supervised development for four years which constitutes college life.