(We invite all men in the University to submit communications on subjects of timely interest, but assume no responsibility for sentiments expressed under this head.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

With rumors afloat concerning suppressed writings having to do with our present system of education at Harvard, the proper time seems to have come for an expression of opinion on this subject from the students themselves. It is for the purpose of eliciting some such expression of intelligent opinion that I have written this article.

Most men, so far as environment is concerned, may be said to be the product of three fundamental institutions in society: the church, the home and the school. The first of these has miserably decayed; the second, through the influence of the industrial revolution, has for the most part given way to either places of work or places of recreation; the third does not now seem to be measuring up to the standards which men have set for it in the past. These institutions, as I have described them, exist all about us; a large part of their product are at present killing one another on the battlefields of Europe. Sociologists may have their "complications and modifications," but the war in which we are now engaged points clearly to but one fact: the unchecked growth of a deadly materialism in human society. The school, in the default of the church, might have prevented this. What is the matter?

In the first place, our system of education has become passive; it lacks spontaneity. More than one professor has likened it to the process of eating. Educative food is held out by the faculty in conveniently-sized morsels to be devoured by the student. The latter, prompted either by Greek-letter or pecuniary motives, seldom by others, swallows what is profered to him with no questions. Needless to say, such food is ill digested, if at all. At examination time, the student proceeds to spew forth,--there is no better word,--on the examination book the material which he has periodically accumulated. And so it goes on,--this relentless pursuit after courses and credits, equivalent almost to dollars and cents; it goes on producing men who are some day to lead nations and peoples in the way they think best.

Secondly, we are educated for "efficiency," not service. The first would not be so undesirable as an end of education were it not for a materialistic connotation that has grown up with the word. On this basis, college courses offer the means only for intensive and specialized preparation for particular branches of service. Compulsory distribution seldom insures in the average student an intelligent conception of what part he will play in the work of the world or the relation of his labor to that of other people. In other words, the ordinary college graduate lacks that comprehensive view, that general synthesis of human knowledge and understanding which is essential for the intelligent performance of his daily tasks. While in college, students neglect their work because they see no purpose in it; the question "to what end?" must be answered by our professors and instructors if a higher record is to be shown at the college office for the work of its undergraduates. Specialized efficiency is by no means an adequate solution of this problem; rather, comprehensive intelligence is what should be sought for.

To serve best his country and his kind, to lead them both away from international and civil warfare, a man should be not only informed, but most of all ennobled. He must be able to realize what his actions mean to the welfare and happiness of others. He must possess a sympathetic understanding, an unfaltering courage, and a keen perception of what is true and right. We look to our American colleges to accomplish this. C. S. JOSLYN '20.