FOR SOUNDER TUTORIAL

With Professor Burbank's announcement yesterday of the modifications in Tutorial instruc-the Economics Department is about to begin this into force, the lead which History gave in starting the "modified Tutorial" system had been followed, and indeed surpased. The developments which the Economics Departmen is about to begin this year are not epoch making, but they represent another step forward in the slow transition of the Tutorial System as it first existed at Harvard.

Like History, the division of Economics concentrators into Plans "A" and "B" will not be on a hard and fast honors basis and the actual division in Economics will be made after a study of the indivual cases. A man who is a straight "C" student but who wants full tutorial will get it, if the Department can provide it financially. The division in Economics appears to be more liberal than that in History, for nearly one-third of the Plan "A" men will not be honors candidates.

Unlike the History plan there will be a small group at the bottom of the Economics list who will receive no tutorial at all, with at the most a few words of advice. This is an excellent change, for it serves the purpose of freeing the tutor from having to spend a great deal of time over men who cannot or will not take advantage of the system. This in turn gives the University a substantial financial saving, and allows the tutor to spend more time profitably on students really interested in the field.

The Department, though placing many students in plan "B", will keep a constant eye on any borderline cases, so that if the work of a student starts to improve, he can be shifted to full tutorial and groomed for honors. There are many men who enter college and waste the first two years, only to wake up in their Junior year and realize the value of honors work. Giving these men a chance to turn over a new leaf will be one of the most note-worthy parts of the new scheme.

As originally introduced, the tutorial system involved a considerable amount of inefficiency and deficiency. The report of Dean Hanford a year ago was an excellent beginning of improvement; the History Department, the first to inaugurate the Modified Tutorial Plan, followed this lead in the spring. With Professor Burbank's announcement the Economics Department has contributed a third step towards the evolution of the Tutorial System at Harvard, thus bringing the intellectual development of the individual closer to the ideal.