In this he was seconded by John T. Edsall, Chairman of the Biochemistry Department, who said: "I am convinced that tutorial is very valuable for superior quality; I have grave doubts of its usefulness for people who are not of distinctly better than average quality."

Several chairmen carried this view even further, going on to lay the blame for the frequent failure of tutorial at the feet of the students.

The specific application of the now famous "student apathy to the field of Romance languages and literature, was definitely and positively stated by Chairman William Berrien, who pointed to the "lack of interest on the part of the students themselves. The apathy of many students, and their unwillingness to work toward getting beyond the spoon fed stage of education is a discouraging aspect of the problem..."

Whether they supported the present restricted policy, no tutorial at all, or a reversion to the pre-war program, the departments without exception agreed on the necessity for a student-teacher relationship which would extend beyond the mere note-taking stage.

Voluntary Conferences

But whereas some believe this can only be achieved through tutorial, others believe that the system of advising, with additional voluntary conferences if the student feels the need for them, will suffice to fill all undergraduate requirements.

In the science fields, where problems are somewhat different from the arts, Chairmen noted that a revived tutorial program is not even a remote possibility, although they do have advisers for the students. The real alternative to tutorial, however, lies not in the advising, but in the very structure of the fields themselves.

Though nominally speaking for his own department, Frederick V. Hunt, Chairman of the Physics Department outlined the view of the majority of the University's scientists. "Close personal contact between student and faculty members... will always remain the very essence of higher education. However, in the physical sciences, the laboratory provides this opportunity for personal contact, and for the exercise and encouragement of student originality.

"Since laboratory work in all the physical science fields offers many more hours of student contact per week than it would be feasible to provide under a tutorial system, you can see why it appears unlikely that we will move in the direction of superimposing a tutorial system upon the present scheme of things."

Course Offerings Integrated

To this should be added the comment by George S. Forbes, Chairman of the Chemistry Department, who noted that "our course offerings are compact, and carefully integrated. Our teaching fellows and instructors follow the students' progress closely in the laboratories for the various courses... All department members advise their quotas of concentrators... We feel that our staff performs many of the functions of those officially designated as tutors."

Although the Psychology Department has neither tutors nor laboratory hours, in the opinion of Chairman Edwin Boring their present advising method is highly satisfactory. Professor Boring stated that he considered as the real key to the problem, not the question "Will tutorial be revived?" but "Has Psychology kept any of the values of the old tutorial system without keeping the system." "The system", in his opinion, "is a bad way to spend the University's money."

"We think that the answer to that question is Yes, and that we can do still better...There is no system, just sensitivity to the students' needs. Some need much advice, some little."

Although the viewpoints stated above present weighty evidence for the case against further tutorial, tutorial itself is by no means completely dead. For all dissenting replies noted, many departments still favor giving tutorial to the fullest extent allowed by the University ruling.

No less than nine departments of concentration fall into this category. These are the Government, History, English, Classics, Romance Languages, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Anthropology, Mathematics, Biochemistry Departments. And of these, the Germanic Languages and Classics Departments have indicated their approval for a full-dress tutorial program for all, regardless of academic standing.