"I try to accept the decision of the person wanting to leave, but if I think his position unwise I tell him so. If a man says he wants to withdraw to mature I tell him that's nonsense. He must have a more positive purpose. I often get students who want to be told why they shouldn't leave."
Another Senior Tutor, Stewart, says, "My feeling is that anybody who really doesn't feel he should be here, should leave, except if he wants to leave because he thinks he's going to flunk the course. My feeling is that leaving is like constructing a building--often you must go back to get materials to complete the structure, a background to finish college."
Advice given freshmen about leaving is not quite so encouraging as that to upperclassmen. F. Skiddy von Stade, Dean of Freshmen, defines the role of his office: "In the first few weeks of the freshman year we encourage them to give college a try; as the year goes on we tend to be more and more lenient. However, if they get along until December or April, we try to urge them to salvage their term." The problem in the freshman year, however, is not particularly great. Only about twenty-five freshmen voluntarily withdraw each year.
Students Approve
The attitude of the leaver's fellow students is often as enthusiastic as that of the Administration. A student leaving often symbolizes the unfulfilled wishes of others, and is often regarded as a hero by the discontent minority. While in the process of leaving, he will hear from other students: "I would like to leave myself, I just don't have the guts." There is, however, a large group who do not ever wish to drop out of Harvard and cannot see why anyone else would want to make such a choice.
By far the most hostile attitude towards leaving is usually that of the student's parents. "Most parents feel that leaving college will be the end of their son's education, and often violently oppose such an act," Stewart notes. Perkins supports Stewart's statement, relating an experience in which the mother of a mentally healthy boy who wanted to leave asked him: "Is my boy crazy?" Parents often feel that, after their own financial sacrifice, their sons will never again be able to get into the groove of college life.
Parental Pressure
People who would otherwise leave are often restrained by parental pressure, by a fear that they will not be admitted to graduate school if they leave, or by thinking that their act would not be approved by the Administration. Harvard's more selective admissions policy does not permit as cavalier an attitude towards leaving as existed in previous decades. As Perry Miller said, "I don't even know if I would leave if I were a student now."
After these students leave, what do they do? Of those in the class of '56 who left and were readmitted, 64 percent had worked, 34 percent had been in the Armed Services, and 2 percent had either attended another university or traveled. The Administrative Board requests a successful work or service record for readmission, which undoubtedly influences the vocational choices of those who leave.
Of those who worked during their interim period, a surprising number went to sea. Many others, McArthur maintains, were content with a rather negative self-image in their choice of vocation, often working in jobs like that of a short-order cook.
Service Beneficial
Seemingly, the most beneficial way to spend one's leave of absence, at least in regards to successful performance upon re-entrances, was to be in the Armed Services. McArthur thinks the Service may be the best solution. The benefits of the Army seem to be that there is much time for contemplation, that the Army offers an ordered and directed life, and that Army life is so unpleasant that upon re-entering one can better tolerate the mild restrictions of Harvard.
Some of those who leave, however, spent their time in Cambridge. This is hardly thought an adequate solution. Miles says, "I would like to adopt the Oxford plan: those leaving being prohibited from coming closer than three miles of the city. I do not regard working for J. August as a good way to spend one's leave of absence."
Dr. Blaine thinks that students