STUDENT OPINION

"Unethical, undesirable, but damned useful." Human minds cannot fairly be put into pigeon-holes. Nor can their opinions on a subject like tutoring at Harvard be accurately summed up in a flashy epigram. Each student thinks differently about it, and the collective opinion is a many-tentacled monster indeed. But in five succinct words, one student did succeed in roughly synthesizing the sentiments which the majority of his fellows nurse, and which they recorded in the Crimson poll.

Unethical because it is cynically used to get out of work. It is a lazy man's short-cut to a diploma, a method of cheating for a Harvard degree. Unethical, too, because of the gross commercialization which has taken tutoring far beyond its legitimate limits, which has created a false and unhealthy demand where one should not exist.

But this is not a blanket condemnation of tutoring in toto; there are, according to the majority opinion, a variety of cases where tutoring is a fair and ethical expedient. For the lame, the halt, and the blind, it is quite proper. The man who has been sick and the "slow but honest" student have a clear right to extra guidance. So also the extra-curricular man who values his activities more than his academics. Nor should a student be denied tutoring as a supplement to the work he has done for himself. All but the most exceptional scholars need aid in reviewing; if the University itself will not provide this, who is there to censure the student for an excursion to the Square?

Moreover is he justified in tutoring when the University muffs its end of the bargain. When some courses are poorly organized and others are poorly taught, when there is vastly too much reading for the average ability in still others, then outside tutoring is a necessary evil. Then it is a fruit, not a root. So says the majority opinion.

Undesirable in its Harvard Square forms because it makes a farce of true education. Students pass examinations, they do not learn as a result of their cramming. And again, because such tutoring mocks Harvard's standards and degrades her degree, it should be exterminated. If the tutoring is by Wolff, let the diploma be by Wolff, but not by Harvard. It is further undesirable because it destroys initiative and the will to honest toil; because it makes students lazily dependent upon a crutch they would not otherwise use.

Once more, it is vicious because of the rich man, poor man problem. There is a premium on the long purse; and Mammon has his share in dictating grades. The financially less able scholar is given an unfair handicap in the contest with a wealthy competitor. Sentiment on this score is intense and vigorous.

All this, yes; but useful nevertheless. Given the tutoring schools, there will be tutoring. Given the primrose path, it will be followed. Perhaps tutoring is unnecessary: perhaps it is unethical and undesirable. But if the temptation exists and is flagrantly flaunted about, few are those who will turn away. For the flesh is weak.