INTEGRATING EDUCATION

"Upperclassmen," wrote President Lowell eight years ago, "are doing work of a university grade, but it is too often distinct and separate from other things and other men." The should improve themselves by "contact with fellows interested not only in the same subject but in different ones. The should profit by deepening and broadening their associations." In the past few months a practical method of achieving this aim has been quietly developed in Lowell House, a method which deserves attention not only because of the ends in view but also because of the means themselves.

Long-winded monologues delivered at House dinners, poorly attended conferences of the American Civilization groups, sporadic inter-House debates--these were once the only means of integrating ideas drawn from various fields. Then, a group of original men in Lowell House conceived the idea of a "symposium," consisting of student impersonations of great men of the past. In this way it was possible, for example, to portray the repercussions of Darwinian thought on economics, philosophy, literature, and religion of the nineteenth century. Last week a similar project, built around Marxist theory, was so successful that it stimulated a heated audience discussion of Stalin and Trotsky, and recreated the exciting days of the 20's when control of the Party in Russia was still in doubt. If proof were needed, that debate proved that the "symposium" method of inter-field discussion can work wonders in the way of enlivening and integrating everyday academic work.

Such discussion groups should be arranged in a systematic way and on a larger scale. Natural student inertia must be overcome, and consequently it might be well, while preserving the substance of the "symposia," to mold them into a somewhat different form. Instead of waiting for occasional student inspirations, each House master in turn should be empowered to name a chairman, preferably a faculty man, at regular intervals. Participating students would then be chosen, not solely from one House, but from all seven--and from the dormitories as well. Without losing the informality which now so largely contributes to the popularity of the forums, the could be regularized and their scope extended. Certainly the popularity already attained by the spontaneous Lowell House "symposia" fully justifies the effort.