The prevailing system of selecting college Freshmen by awarding a given number of credits for each of several unrelated and often useless courses covered in preparatory school has often been criticized. It is noteworthy, however, that one of the most vehement denunciations of the plan should come from Dean Holmes of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Dean Holmes, in a recent address, states that the majority of the subjects required for college entrance are "dropped at the gates" of the University, and looked upon as something once studied and henceforth to be forgotten. Although such courses have long been considered in the light of mental discipline, their value as such is outweighed by their uselessness in preparing the student to do college work. Entrance tests should analyze a candidate's mind, discover his needs, and in some way prove whether or not he is mentally equipped to do college work, rather than determine that he has or has not completed the admission requirements. Even Harvard, with its academically advanced tutorial system, still holds to the conservative and unwise system of admissions. The work expected of a man at Harvard is a contradiction of what he is expected to do in preparing to enter the University.

Although Dean Holmes considers the "Now Plan" far superior to the "Old Plan," he is convinced that even more radical reforms in the admission system must be effected. There is a necessity to correlate the work done in preparatory school with that to be done in college, and to teach in preparatory schools subjects which will be acquired for all time rather than for college board examinations. Harvard, long a pioneer in educational innovations, is in a position to assume the lead in revising admission requirements so as to influence the preparatory schools to give their students a broader preparation for college work.