St. John's might do well to take the lead in speaking out loudly against a current trend in education. It is the demand, expressed in regulation and in reporting demands, that students finish their education as quickly and uninterruptedly as possible. While aimless dawdling wastes time and money, a well-controlled stretching out of the college years and a delayed entry into graduate or professional education has several short and long term advantages, both pedagogical and practical. The rush to finish is one of a number of ill-conceived current notions which this college should oppose as articularly as possible, both for the sake of American students and for its own reputation.

Delays in completing education may occur within the undergraduate stretch or in entering upon postgraduate work. I will begin by giving good reasons AGAINST such interruptions, at St. John's and anywhere.

Undergraduate years:

1. Dropping out is an undisciplined way for students to manage their education.
2. Too often the year away stretches into several and then into drifting away altogether.
3. Students may forget what they learned and have difficulty in reentering a progressive curriculum such as ours.
4. The time away from school is wasted in drifting or in dead end jobs.
5. Certain kinds of financial aid are lost.

Postgraduate schooling:

1. There is no guarantee that once out of a school environment, students will find their way back to advanced study.
2. Graduate and professional schools may wonder what the student was doing.
3. Though our alumni are entitled to, and are explicitly offered the help of the Placement Office, choosing and applying to postgraduate school is (marginally) more difficult away from college.

The arguments FOR well-planned interruptions are, however, far stronger than those against the practice.

Undergraduate:

1. An intensely intellectual program like that at St. John's (and at any college worth the tuition) wears out young students, especially. They crave some worldly activity and the relief of good hard ordinary work. When they come back they find that the second stretch has more savor and zest.
2. A year at the age of most of our undergraduates is a long time, and returning students are often much more mature. While the St. John's program, in appealing largely to the intellect, is not designed for any particular age, it is a great boon to the college and to the students themselves to be somewhat more grown up, especially, in the upper years. They become a stabilizing influence on the community.
3. As it happens, the program, which is progressive on the whole, has a distinct break after the sophomore year, so that returning students tend to be able to pick up the new studies even without much review. In most colleges, where many classes are not done in sequence, interruption is not a problem in any case.
4. In that year away students begin to see how their education prepares them for the working world, and they also begin to understand what they need to learn that is not taught in this or any school. Often they discover what they really want to do (or can't bear doing) after they graduate, and they begin to make the connection that will help them afterwards, perhaps even to a first postgraduate job.
5. In that year they can often make enough money to relieve their accumulating college debt to some degree, or even to save for the next stretch of schooling.

Postgraduate:

1. Many thoughtful undergraduates are, rightly and with our encouragement, so preoccupied with their studies that their plans for the future have not jelled. They need some time in the working world to focus on the postgraduate training they really want.
2. Conversely, the students who go right on, thinking they know exactly what to study, are often deeply disappointed and drawn to a wasteful and expensive career change. It seems better to give the choice of profession time to mature.
3. In applications to postgraduate schools the statement of purpose plays an important role. It calls for focus and experience, and becomes more persuasive as students gain perspective.
4. In the present, very competitive, situation, students with real-life experience and often with extra preparatory courses (which can be taken while working) have a distinct edge. Some professional schools in fact require such courses.
5. Again, an interlude of earning money helps lighten the financial burden.

For all these reasons we should stop making students feel that interruptions of this sort need an apology, and often we should actively advise them to go slow.

This policy is, however, predicated on our finding the means to help students spend their in between time profitably.

THE KIND OF HELP I AM THINKING OF CONSISTS OF A REGISTER OF INTERNSHIPS AND APPRENTICESHIPS -- FIRMS, CORPORATIONS AND AGENCIES WHERE OUR STUDENTS CAN DO REMUNERATED -- OR, IF THEY CAN AFFORD IT, VOLUNTEER -- WORK WHILE LEARNING ABOUT A PROFESSION THEY MIGHT WISH TO ENTER AND MAKING CONTACTS FOR THE FUTURE. Such summer programs have often proved mutually satisfactory for students and employers. We should try to collect year-long-opportunities both for students and recent alumni, and help our students look for them.

Miss Brann requests that responses be sent to her via snail mail: Eva T. H. Brann, St. John's College, P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD 21404.