PHI BETA KAPPA ELECTIONS

The Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa has made an intelligent move in formulating a plan to elect to the Society all men who receive degrees magna cum laude. If the plan is accepted, as it certainly ought to be, it will quiet much of the criticism of Phi Beta Kappa and it will add correspondingly to the Society's prestige.

Perfect justice in the public recognition of merit is as impossible in the academic sphere as it is in the world at large. Nevertheless, any formal recognition which obviously falls short of a reasonable degree of justice is bound to lose much of its meaning. This has been the case with Phi Beta Kappa elections. The award of Phi Beta Kappa keys based wholly or mainly on course grades has rightly, been criticized, for course grades are a superficial criterion of intellectual capacity. It is recognized that general examinations and honors theses are far more adequate tests of intelligent scholarship than course examinations and that the degree magna cum laude is the best official guarantee of a man's scholastic achievement. The Phi Beta Kappa Society has admitted this principle and has for several years elected men who, although they have not held high places on the rank list, have been awarded a degree with high honors in their field. It would be most reasonable to extend this principle as the Society now proposes to do, and to elect all those who graduate magna cum laude.

Two possibilities are open to Phi Beta Kappa if it accepts the proposed change. It may decide to elect no Seniors until after the divisional examinations or it may decide to elect ten or twenty Seniors in the fall and as many more as win magnas in June. The first alternative is preferable. It has no important disadvantages, and it has the definite advantage of accepting fully the principle that the work on the divisional examination and on the honors thesis is the most adequate evidence available concerning those qualities of mind upon which election to Phi Beta Kappa ought to be based.