TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS IN MALLINCKRODT

If the Faculty Council uses the Student Council Committee's report as a basis for reforms in the matters of laboratory hours and reading periods, much befuddlement will be prevented in the election of courses and concentration fields. Athletes, especially, have in the past been shoved willynilly into non-scientific courses simply because laboratory attendants must get home for supper at half-past five. Only a few mental giants have ever used their work on the gridiron to attain a fuller understanding of comparative anatomy, and the principle underlying the use of sliding seats in shells avails little in passing Physics C laboratory requirements. Similarly, lengthening of reading pariods will help group one students to cover their special assignments flawlessly, even if it does aid those cursed with a wider lazy streak to make up for long autumn weekends spent at scattered points along the Atlantic Seaboard.

The College Catalogue is generally conceded to have been guilty of understatement in regard to the number of hours needed for weekly laboratory assignments, as the Council Committee's survey bore out fairly conclusively. No conceivable objection can be raised against increasing these inaccurate estimates by the necessary amounts. A man should not have to be tricked into taking any laboratory course by the supposition that it is only a part-time job. He is too likely to be led toward a severance of University connections at a much earlier date than he had hoped or inteded.

Laboratory work often takes less constant concentration than does steady reading and intelligible note-taking. For this reason, it is more suited for night work for a man hard pressed for time than are many non-scientific courses. Obviously a man cannot "relax in the lab" every evening instead of getting his usual eight hours, but at least the physical movement entailed will help to keep his mind alert and on the job at hand. When these matters are taken into account, it might be considered more pertinent to close the libraries in the evenings than the various laboratories.

The accord with which members of the faculty and student body supported the idea of three-week reading periods stands by itself as a sign of the times. Whereas students in the main confessed their employment of their time for back work in regular courses, faculty members expressed their pleasure in the good work done on reading period assignments, and advocate even more of this non-lecture method of instruction. Both sides are in favor of easy, interesting reading, and choice of books. Obviously a man who has let his work slide for a month or more will take little or no interest in classes after Christmas; Honors men, on the other hand, need lecture presentation far less than other students. Whether viewed from one angle or the other, it is clear that three-week periods are in demand. The findings of the Committee are of the first importance, and their recognition will be unanimously welcomed by the University.