The appointment of Mr. Henry Penny-packer, headmaster of the Boston Latin School, to the chairmanship of the Committee on Admissions at Harvard is an event of more than ordinary significance in the educational world. It indicates a way in which both the colleges and the schools may ultimately solve the difficult problem of adjusting admission requirements in a manner satisfactory to both. The schools have hitherto accounted it a grievance that the administration of these requirements has invariably been controlled by men who viewed the entire matter from the college standpoint and who did not appreciate fully the needs and difficulties of the average high school. In appointing Mr. Pennypacker to take charge of its recruiting, the Harvard authorities have met this contention in a conciliatory spirit.

It may be urged, on the one hand, that the whole purpose of admission requirements is to ascertain whether a boy is properly prepared to do college work. If he is not prepared his admission will result in little benefit to himself and in less to the college. From this point of view it may be contended that the college authorities should alone fix the standards. But on the other hand it is not possible for any college to fix its requirements without regard whatsoever to the existing curricula of the schools. The colleges must take, not always what they would like, but what the schools are able to give. The ideal arrangement, therefore, is to place the administration of the entrance requirements in the hands of someone who will be equally sympathetic with both aspects of the problem, who knows the school situation from long experience but who will also keep in mind the fact that no college can lower its admission standards without ultimately being forced to drop its requirements for graduation as well. This is the arrangement which Harvard has now been able to make and the schools of the country will watch its workings with the greatest interest. Boston Herald