MILITARY AND NAVAL SCIENCE

The courses offered at Harvard in military and naval science are a legacy from the post-war days, when all of us, from William Roscoe Thayer down, were far more convinced of the efficacy of war as a social instrument than we are now. They have followed the trend of the times; originally a pleasant path to a course credit, they have stiffened their requirements, placed more emphasis on the really scientific features of their field, and are now as difficult as the run of courses in the college. This, coupled with the fact that the treat is on the government, has left the administration strangely blind to their anomalous position in the roster of courses taken for the degree.

The United States Government conducts, at great expense and in the face of a large body of active opposition, two training schools for its military and naval officers. One may also, if he has the time and the inclination, find colleges devoted to home economics and to woodsmanship, turning out capable cooks and woodsmen each year. But while the home economists and the rangers have not intruded themselves into liberal arts colleges, the Government has taken advantage of its position to spread its R.O.T.C. through the classrooms of the nation.

Nothing short of a world revolution in idea and in fact can stop nationalism and the R.O.T.C., which is its obvious corollary. Much of the opposition to military and naval science at Harvard has been philosophical; it has been distinguished by its force and sanity, but it obviously cannot be effective. The practical solution lies in barring military and naval science from course credit; if the government insists on them, if there are at Harvard men interested in taking them, the University is not thereby absolved from its duty to the liberal standards of its own degree. How long they would survive if credit were not given for them is a question for the United States Government to solve, but whether a liberal arts college should count trade courses for a degree is a question for the College itself to solve. The degree standards last year sagged to such an extent that aerial photography crept in, but this, in the words of Mr. Dooley, is another and a different thing.