464 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



justify certain courses they are pursuing, above others. 

 In the first blank used at Bradley Institute the question, 

 "In what department are you enrolled at Bradley?" was 

 deemed sufficient to secure a definite response. Tabula- 

 tion of responses to this question revealed several in- 

 stances where the student couldn't name a definite de- 

 partment. For irregular or special students to find dif- 

 ficulty in responding to this question was not consid- 

 ered unusual. For regular students to have difficulty, 

 as several did, indicates manifest ignorance of college 

 curricula and department organization. There occurs 

 to the writer an instance of a college entrant's being 

 in a dilemma as a result of two widely divergent objec- 

 tives, this being typical of several cases coming under 

 his observation. The student, as a result of his own se- 

 lection, had two alternatives before him, — a course in 

 business administration and the course for teachers of 

 manual arts subjects. Coming from a small high school, 

 he was face to face with the responsibility of choosing 

 one of these widely variant courses within a twenty-four 

 hour period. The matriculation machinery of the col- 

 lege was not designed to meet his need, or the needs of 

 others in a similar situation. Some college agency must 

 accept this serious responsibility. If self-analysis can 

 reveal conditions which make special machinery neces- 

 sary it will have performed great service. The pathos 

 of this situation suggested the inclusion in the Bradley 

 analysis blank of the following directions : "State three 

 reasons for electing the course which you have checked", 

 and "State three reasons why you think the vocation or 

 profession which you have indicated is the best one for 

 you". It is hoped that there may be encouraged a greater 

 feeling of personal responsibility for life-career choices, 

 and for courses elected and followed. 



The self-analysis record will be suggestive of the 

 problems which must be approached in the inter- 

 view. There is usually an indication of unity or 

 lack of unity in the rater's plans and habits. Brief 

 description of two contrasting cases recently observed 

 in analysis blanks handed the writer for evalua- 

 tion are significant. CASE No, I was a high school 



