THE MAIL

To the Editor of the Crimson:

One of the most foolish things education has done is to force dozens of students through school and college without once telling them how to study. The instructors say, "Aren't you getting this? Well, you had better spend more time on it." The solution to difficulties in learning does not lie in stretching the twenty-four hour day. It would be more worthwhile instead to seek why the difficulties exist. Why is it that sometimes when one sees a certain word in a language course for a fleeting moment it sticks firmly in one mind, while others, curse them, are seen repeatedly and yet fail to stay?

There is in every university a department of education where men, already through the mill, strive to learn methods of imparting their knowledge to those who do not have it, but there is no institution or department I know of designed for letting students learn how and why they learn.

I suggest that a series of evening lectures be given by a capable man who is anxious to do the work. In these lectures he will discuss the effects of sleep or exercise on study methods of learning words for a language, effects of room ventilation on efficiency, and effects of street noise and music on concentration. He will discuss the relative merits of learning different subjects by sight, sound, or touch. He will tell you what he can about the psychology of learning. Yours truly,   F. B. Riggs, Jr. '41.