War Training and Education
Policy Committee Reports Changes in War-Time Curriculum and Degree Requirements of the College
THE FOLLOWING REPORTfor the year was submitted by theCommittee on Educational Policy ata rece?it meeting of the faculty. Prof.A. J. Scarlett is chairman of the important policy forming committee ofwhich the other members for the pastyear were: E. Gordon Billy Dean ofthe Faculty; Robert O. Conant, Registrar; Professors Messer, Cow den.Meneely, B. H. Brown, and C. L.Stone.
THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL policy has spent a busy year trying to modify the college program so that our students might get as much education and pre-military training as possible before they entered the armed services. It is, perhaps, in order here to thank the members of the faculty who have cooperated with us so willingly, who have taught continuously since September, 1941, who have condensed or speeded up their courses to fit the shortened semesters, who have given final and comprehensive examinations before their scheduled times to students who have had to leave college, who have prepared themselves to teach in fields far removed from their chosen subjects, and who, in short, have done their utmost to keep the College running smoothly in these troubled times.
The year has seen a big shift in student enrollment toward those sciences (mathematics, physics, and graphics) which are required for officer candidates in nearly every field of the armed services, and away from the subjects which were formerly considered to be the center of the curriculum of the liberal arts college. With the advent of the Navy College Training program to our campus, this shift will become more pronounced, our trainees will follow a restricted program and stay with us for a limited time; and, with the exception of a few civilian students, enrollment in our liberal arts curriculum will virtually be suspended. It might seem that the Committee on Educational Policy along with other committees of the faculty could well cease to exist for the duration of the war; but there is the problem of the College after the war and the sort of curriculum best suited for the Dartmouth of the future. For our college will continue to play an important role in the educational life of our nation.
With the post-war changes in mind, we have already appointed a subcommittee to study a possible revision of the curriculum, and by a continuous investigation and discussion of the problems involved, the committee should in due time be able to present to the faculty curricular changes for the post-war College. Our discussions so far have been restricted to the required work of the first two years, and to ways by which we might offer fewer and better courses to juniors and seniors with perhaps greater utilization of the facilities of our excellent library. Perhaps more of the work done by men who major in the humanities and social sciences might well be individual study of the subject matter in the available books and other sources in the Library, directed of course by teachers who understand and are sympathetic with this method of acquiring knowledge and training.
In the past year we have approved a new major in geography, a field which will be of great importance in the training of men who will participate in developing the post-war world. The committee also gave its blessing to a major in American civilization, a course of study worked out with great care by a committee from the Humanities and Social Sciences under the chairmanship of Professor K. A. Robinson. This major was later rejected by fhe Division of the Social Sciences. If the subject has merit, it can perhaps be revived as a modified major in history with considerable restriction in the choice of courses.
In spite o£ reduced enrollment and the small number of elections in many courses, we have not as yet succeeded in more than temporarily reducing the course offerings of the College. With the exception of the busy Mathematics department which has discontinued its actuarial major and the specialized work in that field, our teachers seem reluctant to give up courses which in some instances are rather highly specialized or o£ a graduate character. With the proposed revision of the curriculum, departments in which such courses exist may be asked to reconsider their validity or suitability in an undergraduate institution. It would seem to be more worthwhile to concentrate staff energies used in such courses upon the improvement of more basic work and upon the supervision of student investigations of an individualized nature. In the wrong direction we have allowed concentration of the courses leading to the Thayer, Tuck, and Medical Schools, by condensing the basic preparation for these three schools into the first two years of college. Certainly, the more leisurely preparation for these professional schools should be resumed after the war.
Student applications for permission to work in special topics have been extremely few during the past year, and the little work attempted has been handicapped by the departure from the faculty of many of the men who were willing or able to supervise the work. One of the most interesting projects was started by Richard W. Barry of the class of 1944 who petitioned for a special major in which he would work on a biography of William D. Haywood, the labor leader of the first quarter of this century. Barry left college on February 24, 1.943, and reported for induction into the armed forces March 4. His work up to that time consisted in searching through the literature, text books, encyclopedias, memoirs, magazine and newspaper articles, and in interviewing former acquaintances of Haywood. He has already planned in the writing of this biography to include not only Haywood's personal life but also the significant historical events which so greatly influenced the man.
TESTING SERVICE
At the suggestion of the committee, President Hopkins has appointed a committee consisting of Dr. Horton and Professors C. L. Stone, Bender, and Warren, who will select, prepare, and offer tests to our students. Already the Strong and Thurstone Vocational Interest tests have been given to over two hundred students, who wished to take them in spite of the unsettled conditions and accelerated program. There is a considerable demand for such tests by our students, and it seems desirable that Dartmouth should have a comprehensive testing program more nearly in line with what other colleges have been doing for some time. Certainly, those responsible for student guidance and discipline should have more information about the individual students than is given by the grades on the master cards and the scholastic aptitude test which is given at the beginning of the freshman year. Along these lines the English and Public Speaking departments for several years have given reading tests to all freshmen, placement tests have been given in some of the languages, and this year the History department has inaugurated a test in American history. This history test is extremely valuable in that it sorts out the lowest group who probably should take a course in American history in college, and the best men who should be permitted to take advanced work in this field if they wish.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS FOR MEN IN SERVICE
With the departure of many students from college before they can graduate, and with the enrollment of most of our present student body in either the Army or Navy College Training programs, it becomes necessary to consider a temporary modification of the major requirement for our bachelor's degree. Perhaps under the Army and Navy programs few students will be allowed to complete the necessary 120 hours in college unless they enter the Medical or Engineering schools; but those who can accumulate the necessary total of hours in one or two more terms in a college where the Army and Navy College programs are being conducted should be given Dartmouth diplomas, even if they have no opportunity to take courses in their major subject, and are therefore unable to take the comprehensive examinations. There are, also, many of our students who may be able to take courses in the Armed Services Institute while they are serving in the Army or Navy. In the curriculum of the Institute there are many courses of college grade, and soldiers and sailors who pass them will have the work certified to the colleges for whatever credit they may wish to give it. Many of the men who left college may conceivably receive enough credit hours in this way to reach the required 120 hour total. Again there is the question of whether we should require a comprehensive examination in a major field for these men.
With the students in these two categories in mind, we bring the following recommendation to this faculty meeting for your consideration:
MOVED: to recommend that the faculty grant to the Committee on Educational Policy authority to take action on credits toward completion of work for the degree taken in the Army or Navy College Training programs, and for work taken in the Armed Forces Institute.
(This motion was passed by the faculty.Men interested in taking courses in theArmed Services Institute may write DeanNeidlinger in regard to securing advanceapproval for Dartmouth credit upon satisfactory completion of such work.—ED.)
