Should Some Be Separate?
In regard to this problem, Dean Bender suggested a possible answer. "Perhaps in a couple of years, when the whole setup is shaken down a bit, we can re-examine class lists and separate a few of the largest courses again. It might be advisable in a few cases." A solution such as this might lead to one obvious trouble, which Dean Buck mentioned in another context--that teachers would have to give a course twice under that arrangement, whereas the joint system removes that old and formerly prevalent evil.
The basic question of comparative study habits, excellence, and aptitude for reading and examinations has been shown in sharper light by this year's experience. Harvard students have traditionally maintained that 'Cliffedwellers are grinds--that they study by rote, that they think little if at all, that they put the fishhooks on the end of every grading curve. Some of these contentions are apparently borne out by the first year of practical experience. The Radcliffe Dean's office agrees that the new system is strange for the girls--"They feel a little lost in those big classes"--but claims that they are doing just as well as before the big switch.
As for the men, the student attitude is apparently mirrored in the mind of Dean Bender, who maintains that the 'Cliffedweller of today is a better-looking number than her mother or aunt of 20 years ago. The inclusion of girls in lectures, while perhaps discomfiting the monitoring system, has produced no real complaints on this side of the Common. "It's just a case of the marginal student being sacrificed to the marginal Radcliffe girl," comments David Murray, Jr. '47, a Senior whose curriculum has included a fistful of joint courses.
Exams: Single or Double?
With classrooms definitely under permanent joint regimes, thoughts of some have turned to coeducational exams. Backers of the plan argue that similar exam conditions would equalize results; opponents, on the other hand, are firm in maintaining the value of segregation.
"I don't know what I'd do without an hourly solitary cigarette in an exam," claims Mary Brant, Radcliffe '51, who opposes any merger. Harvard also has objections: "Girls are all right in classes, but in exams you have to concentrate," muttered an Eliot House sophomore recently.