TOO MANY COOKS

Since it is the function of the tutorial system not only to bring order out of the chaos of specialized courses but also to provide a link between the student and his distressingly impersonal department, it is obvious that the tutor must come to know his tutee and the problems with which he is faced. In the past, some departments have suffered from an inadequate number of men available for tutorial duty, unless some change in policy is made before the beginning of next year that spectre will again be hunting University Hall.

The situation is particularly alarming in the English department, where a large number of tutors will, at the end of the current year, either receive higher appointments or leave Harvard. As a result, many concentrators will be forced to become acquainted with a new tutor at a time when the benefits of tutorial should be reaching friction. It is expected that the sophomore year will be used breaking the ice; but when, as may be case in the English department, when a considerable number of seniors must become acquainted with three different tutors in as many years, the value of the system is well-nigh gone.

A partial solution will be provided by enlarging the scope of Plan B, or non-tutorial concentration. But at present the department does not plan to appoint enough new tutors to meet the demands of Plan A, and thus the men who remain will be greatly overburdened. Certainly it will be worthwhile, at least as a temporary measure. to enlist full professors as well as associates and assistants, thus spreading the burden of tutorial duty; and in the future care should be taken to avoid another sudden exodus from the ranks of any one department.