With the opening of meetings last Tuesday, preparatory work for this year's Confidential Guide was begun. In order to avoid any misunderstanding of the Crimson's purposes in compiling this pamphlet, it is well at this point to state them.

The fundamental purpose of the Guide has always been to serve the incoming Freshmen by offering them the opinion of students with regard counter in their first year at Harvard. Since it is written from the point of view of students, its conclusions may not always square with those of University Hall. Since every variety of reaction to any one course is possible among undergraduates themselves, some men may find that they have been misguided. But every effort is made not only to be scrupulously fair to every course and every instructor, but also, through careful choice of a cross section of students in the several departments, to present as representative a picture of undergraduate thought as is possible.

The Guide attempts neither to locate easy courses and kind-hearted section men for lazy students, nor to provide a catalogue based upon the lazy man's point of view, panning stiff courses and praising easy ones. The fact is that at Harvard there are no courses which are easy in the absolute sense. Some are easier than others, and some are of more value than others to the average student; but none are simple or valueless. With this in mind their relative worth can be approximated; and the criteria used include the organization of course material, its interest to a well-educated person, and zest with which lecturers and instructors impart their pearls of knowledge.

Moreover, there is a broader aim which the Crimson conceives for its Confidential Guide, an aim through which service can be rendered to the college as a whole. It is the hope of the editors that their pamphlet is a watchdog of Harvard's educational system, guarding its high standards and helping to prevent any lowering of them. As long as its criticism remains unbiased and constructive, and in so far as it continues to approach an accurate expression of undergraduate thought, this ideal will be realized.