The changes in the curriculum of freshman year have it seems, been a great success so far. There has been no great or unexpected rush either into or from any one department. About sixty men have dropped their Latin, about eighty their Greek, and about a hundred their mathematics. And these men are very evenly distributed, the two history courses open to them receiving the greatest number-about eighty each. This is all very pleasant, so far; history is a subject well suited to freshman year, and the instructors in Latin, Greek and Mathematics probably congratulate themselves on having got rid of their slowest students and the worst of the examination books. But we cannot tell yet. It will be two or three years before the effects of the change will be fully felt. The friends of Latin, Greek and Mathematics will be sorry to see the advanced electives in these subjects slowly thin out. Harvard is already accused of perverting and vitiating the degree of Bachelor of Arts; and we should be loosen to lose the advantage we now hold of offering advanced specialized instruction in Classics and Mathematics superior to that of any other college in America.
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A Festivus for the Rest of Us
