Word: pbk
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Tutor X, let us call him, devotes much time and care to preparing recommendations for the candidates in his House. The morning after the election, he finds that the choices have conformed strictly to neither grades nor his recommendations. To eliminate this funny business, he would like elections to PBK postponed from their present premature dates in the Harvard career, to the end of the senior year when all academic scores are in. He would like the decisions made by professors, or at least the "Graduates," acting on the presumption that election is based on numerical rank unless there...
Realizing this, several undergraduate PBK members have suggested abolishing the chapter. However, Harvard's chapter was founded in 1781; Harvard institutions never die, they just become toxic. So this proposal is impracticable...
There is a function which no Harvard institution serves, and that is to encourage intellectual breadth. Mr. Pusey, I hope, had in mind that good use of the intellect includes more than applying it to curriculum, and that PBK might reward this broader...
...First, PBK should explicitly and consistently encourage breadth of academic endeavor. The electors are often faced with choosing between the all-A physicist and one who has gotten all A's and a B in a history course. Since they may be assured that the physics department will reward the all-A man, they should make PBK one place (and it would be the only place in the College) where the experimenter is rewarded...
...Second, PBK should construct the requirement of "good character" broadly enough to include extracurricular activities which reveal intellectual capacities well employed. Good acting, good writing, good artwork and music-making, good politicking, and good service of one's fellows, can all be evidence at least as clear as a cipher in the registrar's office...