The average undergraduate apparently does not realize that the Degree with Distinction was created by the Faculty with a definite purpose and not merely as an additional ornament to an ordinary degree. It was established in the hope of arousing an effective desire for high-standard scholarship, and to fill the place of the "honors" in English universities, where the importance attached to distinguished intellectual attainment is very great. There high honors are always remembered and constantly referred to throughout a man's life. Referring to this, President Lowell said: "It is that spirit which must be cultivated here if we would foster a desire for scholarship in College. So long as the distinctions achieved in College are not worthy of perpetuation, or are not deemed to be so by the University itself, it is idle to expect the students or the public to value them highly, or to hope that undergraduates will have any great ambition to excel in their College work. If we are to succeed in making scholarship in College an object of ambition, we must lay stress not exclusively upon the degree, but also upon the grade with which that degree is taken, and upon literary and other prizes that are won. In short, we must fix the attention of the student not upon minimum requirements, but upon the highest grade of excellence that lies within his power."

If the real worth of the Degree with Distinction were brought to the student's attention earlier in his College career, there is no doubt that many more men would become candidates for distinction than now do so. At present a number of men with low records for the first part of their College course, later desire to secure a Degree with Distinction. Their previous lack of accomplishment is often a serious handicap. There are even more men, however, who give no second thought to the Degree with Distinction and dismiss it at once as something beyond their scope of endeavor.

If the spirit of learning will not flourish spontaneously, it might well be kindled with a compulsory formality. By the end of the Freshman year the student has accustomed himself to the freedom of College life and is open to suggestion as to the direction towards which to turn his energy. At this period a required conference with an adviser on the Degree with Distinction and a definite opportunity to enroll as a candidate might be made a regular College engagement. At least the present insufficient advertisement of the honor would thus be remedied.