(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarlly endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters, but under special conditions, at the request of the writer, names will be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The enclosed newspaper cutting appeared in a recent issue of the London Daily Mail and was forwarded to me from England.

It struck me that it was of very particular interest at the present time in view of the situation at Harvard and all that one hears about the excellence of the English system.

It submit it to you with the idea that it may perhaps be of sufficient interest for you to make use of, and will make no comment beyond stating that the "B.B.C." referred to in the penultimate paragraph is, of course, the British Broadcasting Co. which has the sole right of broadcasting public entertainment programs from the various stations throughout Great Britain. Your very truly,   George W. N. Riddle '29.

One's first reflection on hearing that Cambridge students are beginning to find fault with the methods adopted for their instruction is one of surprise that they have not done so years before. Unless Cambridge be an exception to the general rule of universities, a large number of those persons engaged in teaching and lecturing are totally unfit for any such occupation.

Does this mean that they are unfit to occupy university posts? Not in the least. The greater part of the teaching and lecturing which they are supposed to do need not be done at all. These gentlemen who cannot give bright lectures are most of them capable of doing much better things.

They may be able, for example, to write commentaries on the Greek and Roman classics, to do important work in literary criticism, to make scientific discoveries, or to contribute to the world's literature. That they are required to lecture at all is, in many cases, an anachronism. The systematic or amphitheatre course of lectures in most subjects might with advantage be abolished and its place taken by tutorial classes, viva voc classes, or what they call in America the "Quiz."

Whatever is wrong with the present lecture system is not altogether to be charged against the professors--who, it may be noted, are always the most progressive group in a university, the students and Convocation being the most conservative. Lectures are a remnant of mediaevalism and date from a time when there were no text-books.

There are large numbers of people (and the writer includes himself in this category) to whom any sort of lecture or sermon is a well-nigh intolerable infiction, and if one is compelled to sit still while somebody continuously talks on a subject which one can more comfortably read for oneself, one develops an attitude of mind resistant to all influence.

Naturally, large numbers of students are of this type of mind, and either posess or rapidly develop an immunity to lecturing. Since it has been admitted that in our universities there are far too many lectures, our sympathy is, on the whole, with the students.

On the other hand, one feels that it is a little bit hard on a lecturer if all his little mannerisms, whether of speech or gesture, are to constitute an indictment against him, as one critic suggests. Even the B.B.C. announcers, who must of course be the most perfect speakers, have their little manenrisms

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If the lecture system is to continue (and most evils in this world do continue) then the remedy, from the present standpoint of the student, lies in changing the lecturer as often as possible. In Continental universities pupils are in the habit of transferring themselves from one institution to another, whereas in this country the tradition is for a student to remain under one set of teachers throughout his entire curriculum. A system has been started in a feeble kind of way so far as this country is concerned of exchanging professorships or lectureships. This is all in the right direction, not only from the standpoint of making things more pleasant for the pupil but also because by this means he is enabled to obtain a broader outlook upon his subject.