Crimson Inaugurates Campaign to Eliminate the Tutoring Schools

By a unanimous vote the CRIMSON board last night decided to exclude all tutoring school advertising "until such time as the tutoring schools are restricted to functions not inconsistent with sound educational practice."

The launching of a CRIMSON campaign against the schools comes as the culmination of widespread dissatisfaction with the enlarged role they have played in University life of the past few years.

As early as May, 1933, Dean Hanford wrote an affidavit for a copyright case in which he stated that the tutoring school system "affects unfavorably the standards and morale of the undergraduates." No concrete University action, however, was forthcoming.

Council Poll

Three years later a little-publicized poll by the Student Council revealed that from two-thirds to three-fourths of the undergraduate body frequent tutoring schools for oral reviews or notes.

Since William Whiting "the Widow" Nolen '84 started his Manter Hall School in 1886, the extent and influence of the tutoring schools have gradually grown. According to the Student Council report, they have "grown out of their proper place" to a degree unique in American universities.

Individual and small-scale tutoring existed until the 1930's in the Widow style', pursued by such men as E. Gordon Parker '96, now of the Parker-Cramer School, and Fletcher Briggs, whose method remained unchanged during the tutoring revolution.

The era of mass reviews and high-powered salesmanship was inaugurated in 1931 with the founding of the University Tutors under Joseph H. Hurwitz. He was inter joined by the College Tutoring Bureau, which supplies prepared notes, while the original University Tutors give oral reviews.

Rapid Growth

IN rapid succession came Wolff's and Parker-Cramer, who now compete for leadership in the field of widely advertised mass reviews. In 1936 Fairfax Hall became important in the prepared notes and "trot" field. The latest school is that established in 1937 by Charles Marshall Underwood '09.

Today schools which specialize in mechanical cramming methods advertise that "tutoring. . . is not a crutch for the lazy or unintelligent boy, but a constructive educational technique."

During the past ten years, the tutors have left themselves open to attack both legally and ethically. Publishers and authors have at various times sued the schools under the copyright laws; and the University has secured injunctions for notes on lectures which are the "common law" property of the College.

Faculty Action

In 1937, following the publication of the Student Council Report, the Faculty Council passed laws forbidding scholarship holders to be "employed by a tutoring school without written consent." Recent investigations, however, have revealed flagrant infringements of this rule.

Instances of other unethical practices have also been unearthed, including the writing of course papers and theses, spotting and stealing examinations by "academic hijacking," and bribing monitors for class lists.