Numbers Racket

Brandishing sharp No. 3 pencils, students from all fields will soon enroll in Economics 126, Accounting, the College's lonesome business course. Like most liberal arts colleges, Harvard doesn't want to stuff its catalog with courses to smooth each graduate's path to a six figure income. But in its effort to remain unsulied the University has created a difficult situation for students planning business and law careers. The single term of accounting is only enough to wade in the subject's principles. Except by taking a course outside the University, there is no way for the student to get a sufficient introduction to the field.

In explaining this lack, the Economics Department points out that its professors should concern themselves with theoretical and scholarly situations. Although the present course is scant and unsatisfactory, it is in harmony with the academic tone of the Department. But students in the Law and Business Schools as well as those working in business offices argue that a full year's study of accounting is a useful, almost necessary undergraduate task. Harvard students entering a graduate school at some other university find themselves unable to take certain courses because they lack the prerequisite year's course in accounting.

To correct this inadequacy the University should extend Economics 126 to a full year--split into two half courses. The first term could remain much like the present course, with the second term devoted to discussion of the subject's more subtle particulars. An extension would not carve much of a slice from the Economics Department's budget, yet it would provide an important aid for students trying to meet the burden of graduate school courses and personnel office requirements.