Five four‐year colleges: Reed College

IN TERMS OF A PHYSICAL ANALOGY our curriculum is certainly an example of dynamic equilibrium—at times almost unstable equilibrium. It is in such a state largely as the result of tensions: tensions between theorists and experimentalists, tensions between classical ideas and modern ideas both as to subject matter and methods of approach, and tensions between an abstract, conceptual treatment and a phenomenological treatment. All of these tensions exist within the department itself; in addition there are tensions with our mathematics department as to who shall teach the applied mathematics, and that tension common to all liberal‐arts colleges between the need for a broad general education and the desirability of thorough specialized training in the major field.

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