"Before Conant came, there was no tenure pressure, so people could be tutors indefinitely," says David Riesman '31, who has studied the development of education at Harvard. "Conant saw this as too cozy, too inert."

Ever since Conant's time, Riesman says, the concept of tutorials as being housed-based interactions between students and young Ph.D.s has gradually disappeared, together with menus and waiters.

"The houses made tutorials a presence," Reisman says. "But he [Conant] wanted faculty to get on with scholarly work. He was not there to create gentlemen who were good at conversation."

Today, tutorials mix elements of Lowell and Conant: they provide more personal interaction, not for the sake of intelligent converasation, but rather as serious preparation for research within a concentration.

"The function of junior tutorials is to prepare students for writing a senior thesis--an original piece of research," says Pilbeam. "Beginning in sophomore year, it [tutorial] introduces them to the structure of creative thinking in their field."

Just as it was in 1931, the issue of who should teach a tutorial is the source of campus-wide debate.

Tutorials, especially in the sophomore year, are taught mostly by graduate students, with professors usually restricting themselves to senior thesis advising. However, it appears that students are not complaining.

"We used to have far greater faculty involvement than we have now," says Professor of History and former Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Steven Ozment. "Students seem to like this, though. You can't argue with success--but I'm pleased there seems to be some action."

But members of the History Department, who are currently reevaluating the department's tutorial structure, say that faculty participation is nonetheless a critical issue in their discussion. And according to Ozment, sophomore tutorials are the major problem.

"The sophomore tutorial is the most demanding" and is taught by third year graduate students, Ozment says. "They're just beginning their teaching careers and they're teaching the most demanding tutorial."

Junior Seminars--A Compromise

The Government Department has now become somewhat of a model through its junior seminars, which are a compromise between large lecture courses and intimate tutorials.

"I think I myself find the government department model of the faculty-taught seminars a very positive one," says Susan G. Pedersen, head tutor of the History Department.

Led by then-department head Robert D. Putnam, Government changed its tutorial structure seven years ago to allow for more faculty involvement. Today, juniors can opt for either junior tutorials led by graduate students limited to eight students or faculty-led seminars limited to 15.

Pilbeam also says he likes government's junior seminars. "It's a chance for real interaction," he says. "I would like to encourage more of the big departments to begin to think about it."