Two events have just occurred which in conjunction seem significant. One is the adoption by Yale of the Harvard system of entrance examinations begun here four years ago. The other is the offering of a scholarship trophy by Phi Beta Kappa to the preparatory school with the best record of examination entrants.

The first of these gives evidence of the excellence of the Harvard system; the second promises to aid materially in its preservation. The trophy will doubtless prove a real inducement to good work by future entrants. It would be expecting too much to suppose that the effect of the trophy will be anything like immediate, but it is certain that the school which gets the trophy will not want to give it up, and that the others will do their best to win it from it.

Harvard has led the way in the theory that entrance examinations may be something beside merely "getting by," in introducing a system of entrance requirements based on general scholastic attainments.

The trophy should prove an incentive to the preparatory schools in keeping their standards under this system to a high level.