General examinations were intended to be the sanction for tutorial, but in fact they are not. Consequently the Council presents a plan for making a satisfactory tutorial record a definite part of the requirements for promotion, for the degree and for honors,--for providing tutorial instruction of some sort as a normal part of the college education of every Harvard man. It is proposed that at the end of each year the tutor shall render to the Department, and the Department to University Hall, a report on each tutorial student, either "Satisfactory" or "Unsatisfactory."
The Council realizes that informality is one of the chief virtues of the tutorial relationship. This informality the Council's proposals do not destroy; they merely require that the tutorial relationship exist.
The Council regrets the distinction between Plans A and B as regards tutorial work, but if such a distinction is necessary for financial reasons, it "insists that Plan B tutorial be tutorial and not an absence of tutorial."
Miscellaneous Proposals: General Examinations.
The Teaching of Courses.
The report also includes concrete proposals to prevent the general examinations from causing over-concentration. In History, Government, and Economics, for example, the report recommends an examination on the classics of social thought for all concentrators. Similarly, it is suggested that the general examinations in science require answers to some questions on the history of science and the philosophy of the scientific method. In the field of English it is recommended that concentrators be not required to cover every chronological period in English literature and that more emphasis be placed on the principles of criticism and the evaluation of the literary worth of pieces of prose and poetry.
The Council frowns on any idea of dropping the general examinations for any part of the college. The Council is opposed to dividing the college into an honors college and a pass college.
Certain proposals on the teaching of courses are also included. The report stresses "the belief that teaching and tutoring ability should be a major criterion in the selection and advancement of faculty personnel."
But the major point in the report is the restoration of liberal education at Harvard by (1) the establishment of broad introductory courses required for distribution, and (2) the strengthening of the tutorial system. HARVARD RIFLE SCHEDULE