College No Less Liberal Today Than In 1901, Professor E. K. Rand Declares

Declaring that college courses are less specialized now than they were before the last year, Edward K. Rand '94, Pope Professor of Latin, who will become emeritus in September, stated yesterday that liberal education had not declined during his 40 years at Harvard, and that it would not decline because of the war.

As the exception to this general rule, however, Rand pointed to the "stimulating" survey courses that were given here when he began to teach in 1901, and urged that similar ones be offered today. "They were attractive and easy to pass, and so everybody took them," he said, emphasizing the value of courses which provide a worthwhile experience that can be shared in common.

The war will not kill the liberal tradition at Harvard, he stated. "Of course, preparation for the conflict is our first concern, but the draft-system encourages a student to regard his studies as his first duty until he is called. A liberally trained man will eventually make a better officer."

Contrast With Last War Stressed

Discussing student opinion at the beginning of the war, Rand emphasized its contrast with the enthusiasm shown by students when we entered the last war in 1917. "At that time," he said, "an undergraduate felt ashamed if he were not connected in some way with the R. O. T. C." In this war, on the other hand, he remarked that it was only the events that followed the defeat of France that shook many students from an isolationist mood.

Rand emphasized that he did not expect the study of the Classics to decline further, barring the interference of changes in present regulations. "There will always be a certain group of men," he said, "who will want to continue the study of Latin and Greek, both for the value of the languages in themselves, and for their influence on the later literature of Europe."

If, as has been proposed, Latin is no longer required for an A.B. degree, he warned, schools will probably discontinue its study. While this would result in a serious decline in the number of men who would take the course, he reiterated that men would still be able to begin the subject in college, though unable to progress so far.

During the war, Rand said, the study of the Classics should increase despite the necessary concentration of practical subjects. "The same code of common-sense decency that Hitler has violated can be observed in Greek and Roman literature," he declared, "and their forms of government are ones that we should study."

Returning to the attitude of students today, Rand stated that "the unification of this country has not yet been perfected." Many of the isolationist sentiments of young people, he remarked, must be attributed to the postwar historians, who were unable to fix the guilt for the last war and so spread the conviction that this was a purely imperialist struggle. "Things would have been different if we had joined the League," he concluded.