University of Virginia Library

Third-Year Comps

We were very gratified to learn of the
English department's decision to eliminate
third-year comps after this year. We have
always wondered why the need for them
was felt to be unique to the English department,
and we have always considered
them an unnecessary burden on the students.
The department, too, must have come to
the conclusion that they are either unnecessary
or such a burden before it eliminated
them.

Assuming that whatever logic persuaded
the department to dispense with the comps
is valid, it seems that that logic must also
be valid relative to third-year comps for the
class of 1969. In other words, if the comps
have been determined to be of value insufficient
to merit continuing them, then
those planned for this year must also be of
such insufficient value. There is no question
that they are a real burden on the students
who face them; further, the time necessary
to prepare for them is time students would
spend better pursuing their regular courses
in English and other subjects. The comps
also require the purchase of a large number of
books as well as the time it takes to read
these books.

In short, then, it seems silly to delay
suspension of an outmoded institution for
any reason, especially if the reason be no
more than that an occasion of the institution
has already been planned. If the department
feels that it will serve its future
majors best by not imposing third-year
comps on them, then it will likewise serve
its current majors best by not imposing
third-year comps on them. There is no good
reason to wait until next year to effect
the suspension if it is deemed worthwhile and
desirable.

One last point-if the department refuses
to budge in this matter, any student who
fails the third-year comps and is thus forced
out of the major will certainly have been
treated unfairly, especially if he is in good
standing as far as the rest of his requirements
are concerned. There can be little
justification for penalizing a student for unwilling
failure to comply with outmoded and
doomed requirements. Such action would
be like hanging a criminal in the period
between the passage of a law banning capital
punishment and the date on which it takes
effect.