Word: wellesley
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Having just finished re-reading Charles I. Kingson's article "Wellesley College: The Tunicata" (CRIMSON, Friday, May 8, 1959), I would like to commend you for such a thought-provoking analysis...
Using Harvard as a basis for comparison, class discussion is much freer at Wellesley; there is less fear of saying the wrong thing. Wellesley's faults carry along with them merits; and although the instructor confesses that he consciously pitches the level of the discussion a little lower than he would prefer, he has the satisfaction of almost one hundred per cent participation...
...idea behind this method of teaching seems almost anti-academic--that the fact of discussion is more important than the material itself. Wellesley, if articulating its justification for such a value judgment, would do it as did one professor--in terms of the terminal education...
...argument runs like this: a Wellesley student, if she really wants an academic discipline, does have a chance to work on her own if she proves her ability. She can concentrate upon almost anything she wishes, once she has gotten some broad lower-level humanities courses...
This same lack of friction carries over into Wellesley's intramural social life--the upperclass societies. To join, a girl must go to tea at each one; but any junior or senior who wants it is guaranteed acceptance, and the hierarchy, if any, is slight (Tau Zeta Epsilon--"Tizzy"--seems to be ranked a notch above the rest). Far from being an important part of the college's life, either intellectual or social (they were originally formed with specific purposes in mind, for example the Agora as a political science organization), they have become merely a pleasant place to take...