l, and ability in organization. The university student is not
only maturer and more serious but has a basis of broader knowledge
than most undergraduates. Without this equipment of mental powers and
knowledge, the student cannot judge the merits of contending views nor
harmonize seeming discrepancies. A student who has no ample foundation
of economics cannot study the subject by reference reading on the
problems of economics. To learn the meaning of value he would read the
psychological explanations of the Austrian schools and the
materialistic conceptions of the classical writers. He would then find
himself in a state of confusion, owing to what seemed to him to be a
superfluity of explanations of value. When one understands one point
of view, an added viewpoint is a source of greater clarity and a means
of deeper understanding. But when one is entirely ignorant of
fundamental concepts, two points of view presented simultaneously
become two sources of confusion. In the university only the student of
tried worth is permitted to take a seminar course. In the upper
classes in college, mediocre students are often welcomed into a
seminar course in order to help float an unpromising elective.

=Limitations of seminar method in undergraduate teaching=

The college seminar is usually unsuccessful because few students have
ability to hold the attention of their classmates for a period of
thirty minutes or more. Language limitations, lack of a knowledge of
subject matter, inability to illustrate effectively, and the skeptical
attitude of fellow students all militate against successful teaching
by a member of the class. Students presenting papers often select
unimportant details or give too many details. The rest of the class
listen languidly, take occasional notes, and ask a few perfunctory
questions to help bring the session to a close. A successful hour is
rare. The student who prepared the topic of the day undoubtedly is
benefited, but those who listen acquire little knowledge and less
power. The course ends without a comprehensive view of the entire
subject, without that knowledge which comes from the teacher's
leadership and instruction. This type of reference reading and
research has value when used as an occasional ten or fifteen minute
exercise to supplement certain aspects of class work. But as a steady
diet in a college course, the seminar usually leaves much to be
desired.

The _laboratory method_ is growing in fav