Holy Cross and Harvard are seeking the same result, the "whole man" graduate, in totally different ways. The two most drastic differences between the schools are the former's emphasis on religion and the latter's greater allowance of social freedom.

The problem of whether or not a college can develop a whole man is so essential to the basic philosophy of an education that Harvard's Student Council is currently carrying out research designed to learn--as well as can be learned--the necessities for the development of this "whole man" graduate. A pamphlet attempting to explain the religious emphasis in Holy Cross education states that "the supervision over a student's moral life should be as systematic as the direction of his mental life. Education, as understood in this system, is the training of the whole man in which training the supreme element is growth along the lines of Christian morality.

"While recognizing in its fullest extent the advantages of a liberal education in the purely secular order, the College at the same time understands that education must contain a power that can form or sustain character."

Realizing this deep-seated difference between Catholic and non-sectarian institutions, the average member of the latter has the impression that religion is "thrown at" the students of a non-secular school, day and night, to the point of inciting narrow-mindedness. This is definitely not true of the school on the side of Mount St. James in Worcester.

Religion Courses Required

The Very Reverend John A. O'Brien, S.J., President of Holy Cross and a former professor of Philosophy at Boston College, prefers to look at the problem in a more utilitarian way. Admitting that Holy Cross takes pride in a reputation as a good "liberal arts" college and explaining that one course in Religion is required every year to all but the 22 non-Catholics in the college, Father O'Brien says, "We are not secularistic in the technical sense--divorcing the study of religion from education--simply because we do not feel that the study of religion has no educational value.

"Secular schools are inclined to say that religion is largely a matter of feeling--not scientific or intellectual. But religious factors have had much to do with the growth of western civilization, and a non-emphasis on religious teaching would, we feel, lead to a truncated, defective liberal education."

At any rate, questioning of a cross-section of Holy Cross men shows that the religious training is almost totally confined to these classes and to required attendance at Mass three times a week.

But almost as important a difference in the administration of the Cross man's educational development--and even more important to many of the students--is the amount of parietal control placed over them. Holy Cross is one of the two or three most socially restricted liberal arts colleges in the country, certainly the closest controlled one in the east.

Early Curfew for All

Basic dormitory regulations--as set down in a little purple manual referred to as the "joke book"--state that the Holy Cross upperclassman must be in for the night by 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, 11:45 p.m. on Saturdays, and 11 p.m. on Sundays. For freshmen these times are moved up approximately an hour. A monitoring system of corridor prefects checks up on obedience to these rules with more or less conscientiousness.

Home permissions, entitling the students to remain off-campus on a Saturday night, are granted by the dean of discipline. The late-dater can then either go home or take his chances of sneaking back into his room after hours. If caught, he loses his out-permissions.

On weekdays, permission to leave the building during the early evening must be obtained from the corridor prefect. For permission to leave the campus during the evening, the student must go to the dean of men.

In addition to this, there is the "retiring hour." Lights in all bedrooms must be turned out by 11 p.m. (10:30 p.m. for freshmen). Occasionally, for "sufficient reason," permission for late lights may be obtained.

As far as dormitories are concerned, female visitors are out. It is positively forbidden to bring ladies, even mothers and sisters, to the rooms or corridors of the dormitory buildings. Except on special occasions, only one room on the entire campus--the lounge of Fenwick Hall, the administration building--is not off limits to the female guest.