COLLEGE ENTERING DECADE OF SCIENCE, HANFORD REPORTS IN ANNUAL MESSAGE

Harvard is entering upon a "decade of the Natural Sciences," according to Dean Hanford's annual report, which was released yesterday. Just as the 1920's were characterized by interest in the humanities, and the 1930's in social sciences, so will technical subjects dominate the interest of undergraduates in the 1940's.

This trend has not been immediately caused by the war, the report emphasized, but rather has been steadily growing in recent years. Social sciences still claim the largest number of concentrators, but those who have elected the arts and letters have declined from nearly one-half of all concentrators 20 years ago to less than a quarter today.

More Science Concentrators

Meanwhile, the number of concentrators in the natural sciences has increased from one-fifth in 1921 to nearly one-third last year. "For some," says the report, "this cannot help being a painful development, and a threatening one.

"Naturally none of us seriously believes that Harvard will under any circumstances turn into a mechanical or military institute, or that its technicians could ever train the soulless engines that people the nightmare world of the more-than-Nazis, the Nazi-Bolshevists like Ernst Junger. Yet, faith in liberal studies, like faith in freedom of opinion which we take almost too much for granted, needs to be renewed especially in wartime."

Dean Hanford stressed, therefore, the need for the university to preserve the "liberal and humane tradition." This tradition must not be overshadowed by accelerated college work and preoccupation with technical courses for future war service, he said, for this would defeat Harvard's attempt to provide the student, first and foremost, with a truly liberal education.

"The ultimate purpose of such an education," Dean Hanford declared, "is to free the minds of its students from ignorance and prejudice, to provide them with a set of values and standards, and to furnish them with the tools which will enable them to formulate intelligent opinions, judge wisely, and make sagacious decisions."

Decries Over-Specialization

To strengthen Harvard's liberal curriculum, Dean Hanford has made several suggestions:

(1.) General Examinations and the requirements for concentration should be revised so that over-specialization is prevented. Furthermore, greater emphasis should be placed on the broader fields of concentration, such as the new Area of Social Science.

(2.) Initiation of a course on American culture, civilization, and thought "studied as processes rather than as problems."

(3.) A required distribution course in the social studies or humanities which would have application to the problems of past, present, and future. Already Ralph Barton Perry, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, has suggested a number of such courses, including History of Human Freedom, Science and the Modern World, Economic Democracy, and Economic Aspects of Social Reform: Individualism and Collectivism.

Phelps Reports on Students

Assistant Dean Reginald H. Phelps has prepared for Dean Hanford's report a statement on "The Direction of Student Interest," which reveals many interesting statistics. In addition to citing the concentration figures, Dean Phelps gives other facts to show the growth of popularity of technical subjects at the expense of the humanities:

(1.) The Natural Sciences are attracting undergraduates not only in quantity but also in quality. More than half of the concentrators in the last three years have been candidates for honors. This is a larger proportion than either the humanities or social studies have attained.

(2.) The decline in interest in humanities is sharper than the overall figures would indicate. If such elementary or prescribed courses such as English A, German A, or Spanish 1 were not included, the remaining subjects in the area would show a drastic decline in enrollment amounting to nearly 15 per cent.