"Only Eleven Quit"

So says theDallas Morning News. The editorial comment reprinted below from that paper is apropos of the statement given out last month by E. Gordon Bill, dean of freshmen, setting forth the gradual decrease in recent years in the number of freshmen separated for scholastic failure. Only eleven members of 1932 were subjected to this discipline at the end of the first semester of this year. The Dallas editorial follows:

"Dartmouth announces that only eleven freshmen had to quit at the end of the first semester on account of failure to pass examinations. This is the lowest record in nine years. Dartmouth picks its freshmen now. Applicants are chosen on the basis of their likelihood to make good students. The authorities feel that they have reason for the new policy.

"It is not unusual for several hundred firstyear students in Texas colleges and universities to fall by the wayside. Some of these schools are more soft-hearted than others about allowing the 'lame ducks' to linger on, but the casualties postponed are usually casualties none the less as the months go by.

"There may be some advantages in 'exposing' young people to education, whether they show any aptitude for it or not. But tax-supported institutions are scarcely legitimate places for this expensive practice. Dartmouth feels that the privately maintained college is not the place for it, either. Both the school and the student suffer by it to some extent. Waste usually imposes a greater penalty than is directly involved. Especially is that true of wasted time and opportunity."