A few posts ago Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provided a transcription of a report written by a member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John W. Morss, that shared his observations of teaching in the recitation sections of the principles of economics course (Economics A). Today we have the brief report submitted by the entire committee in 1915. Changes in the organization of the accounting and statistics courses as well as the surprising popularity of Thomas Nixon Carver’s course on agricultural economics are mentioned. The planned introduction of courses in European and U.S. economic history and expansion of the tutoring program are noted as well.
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College: —
The Committee to Visit the Department of Economics respectfully reports:
The most important change during the year has been in the conduct of Courses la and 1b, which are now introductory courses in accounting and statistics, designed to give these subjects vital and fundamental relation to the students’ later work in economics. Both courses are given by effective teachers with a large amount of what may be called laboratory practice or problem work, which seems to be extremely valuable. Next year the Department is to have at its disposal one of the drafting rooms at Pierce Hall, which will furnish an admirable laboratory.
The interest shown in Professor Carver’s course in the Economics of Agriculture is surprising. There are forty-four students in this course and as many more were refused admission either because of their inadequate preparation or of their lack of practical interest in the subject. Most of the students electing this course have either come from farms or are contemplating farming or some other form of rural work. The number in the class has been strictly limited because of the difficulty in providing satisfactory reading matter in sufficient quantity. Professor Carver now has in preparation a book of selections bearing on the general question of rural economics and agricultural policy which will be available for use next year and render it unnecessary to restrict the members in the course arbitrarily. [Selected Readings in Rural Economics compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916]
Professor Carver is in Cambridge this year but continues to direct the investigation which the Department of Agriculture is making into the subject of the marketing of farm products. As no member of the teaching force is away on leave, the work this year has been unusually free from interruption. The number of graduate students continues to increase. This year it was forty-eight, and the prospect is of further growth. The attendance in other courses has been normal, but the re-adjustments made in Courses la and 1b have brought about a considerable reduction in the number taking these courses, the result of which is a slight decrease in the number taking all courses in the Department. This is no more variation than is to be expected from year to year.
Plans are under consideration for introducing in Economics 2a, European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, and 2b, Economic and Financial History of the United States, improved supervision of the work of the students in preparing and writing theses, in line with the effort now making to improve the quality of English written by students in Harvard College.
The Department has been obliged, during the year, to furnish the assistance of tutors to those of the present Sophomore class who were concentrating in economics, and thus to add three tutors to the staff. Three others will be appointed next year, and it appears possible that by combining these positions with those of instructors and assistants we shall be able to offer somewhat better compensation for the work and thereby secure a better type of instructor and assistant.
The Department of Education has continued this year its survey of the Department of Economics and has inspected the work of practically all the courses. The Department of Education expects to bring this work to completion next fall, and the report may be expected by November 1st. [The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.]
Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS J. SWAYZE,
CHARLES W. ELIOT,
WILLIAM ENDICOTT,
EDGAR C. FELTON,
JOHN F. MOORS,
JOHN W. MORSS,
I. TUCKER BURR,
ROBERT TREAT PAINE,
CAMILLUS G. KIDDER,
WALLACE B. DONHAM.
May 10, 1915.
Image Source: Pierce Hall (1901) from Harvard Class Album 1920.