The record-union., 1896-06-14
PROFESSOR LANGE,s REPORT.

PROFESSOR LANGE'S REPORT
Hon. S. r. Black, Superintendent or
Fublic Instruction, Sacramento, CAL
Dear Sir: In accordance with your sug-
sestion, I herewith inclose my state
ment for the work I have done in con-
nection with the new State Grammar
since my first report.
AS you are aware, the portions OF
the dummy found least satisfactory
from the point of view of scholarly ac-
curacy were those treating of the clas-
sification and declension of nouns and
pronouns, of the classification and con-
jugation Of verbs and the gerund.
Attention was called, besides, to a
number of minor defects, in conslsten-
cies of phraseology, and infelicitles OF
statement occurring elsewhere, and 10
the lack of logically arranged synopses-
1 ventured moreover, to treSpasS on
purely peda gogical ground and to point
out what to my mind seemed to can
for re-examination and improvement
! Now, in giving assistance to the ed
| itors in this work of a final reVlslol'
| the aforementioned class OF questions
| was, of course, left out of account, eX-
| cept in so far as these came lncldental-
| ly or affected arrangement ana 1orIau-
! lation Judging however, from Such
parts as have come under my obSerVa-
| ton, the editors while adhering in gen.
! eral to the original plan, commend
| able plan, in my opinion, have eagerly
availed themselves of the suggestions
| made by myself and others. AS IN
stances, I may mention the greater en-
| Ihasis given to thought as determln-
! :ue language, and to exercises compell-
/ ing pupils to think, and the omission
of unsuitable selections.
| Verbal changes, recaSting of dehnl-
| tions. alterations in Technology, re-
moval of Inconsistencies, ETC., were
largely attended to by the editors
themselves. But many Of the most i'm
pcrtant of these changes l have looked
over very carefully and find that thes
| constitute a marked improvement. In
fact some of the corrections show re-
markable ingenuity in reconclllng the
| demands of scholarly precision Wltf
| those of adjustment to the capacity OF
| the child. Hence, there is good reason
to believe that the book can now stanC
a comparison with most first editions OF
| similar books.
By the way, does our system 6f get
ting text books afford opportunities fol
| future corrections and for the incor-
poration of suggestions that are the
outcome of practical experience with
book? If not, so much the worse fol
| the system. Mistakes are bound tt
creep in, no matter who does the writ
| ing or compiling. 1t is only by sue
| cessive revisions that a book can pt
| given something like excellence In de-
| tail.
My suggestion that each main divis
ion of the grammar should be followed
by a synopsis of what has preceded
| has been carried out in a thoroughly
satisfactory manner. The same is true
of the grouping of review questions by
topics. 1t has certainly been made very
much easier for the teacher to give
children a coherent knowledge of th'
facts of our language.
The theoretical portions referred t
in the beginning are now in a fairly
satisfactory shape, also. Each proc
sheet was critically examined by m'
as soon as it came into my hands, ant
then discussed by letter or in confer
| ences of which several have been held
| Ia some cases the same lessons were
| submitted to my criticism and discussed
a number of times. The verb, especi
| tally, gave no end of trouble-and no
only to the editors. That is the differ
ence between pulling down and build
ing up. But while there are still some
| features of the treatment involving
special knowledge that a philologis
might easily find fault with, 1 am salts
fed that about as much accuracy ha!
| been secured as is practicable withou
| sacrificing the practical ends of tht
| book
To sum up, / can conscientiously say
that the new State grammar will prov
a useful schoolbook, that it is bette
than most grammars with the same enc
in view, and that Mr.. Raymond and hi
associates have done everything il
their power to remedy defects Yer,
respectfully yours,
ALEXIS F. L. IE
State superintendent Black reporte,
that Professor E. H. Keyes had fin
ished the manuscript of the advance,
history and placed it in his hands 70
examination.
RAYMOND'S REPORT
| EdltOr-ln-Chlef Raymond made hi
report, stating that the revision of tn
proof pages of the new grammar wa
nearly completed and there only re
mains of editorial work the review O
proof pages of the index and reading o
proofs from the plates as they are pu
upon the press of the last 16S pages
which, however, is only small matte
and does not justify the retention 0
an editor, and his final duties will there
fore be performed within the next thre
or four days
The printing of the grammar no
being completed he is unable to ascer
tain accurately the selling price of tn
book, and the State Printer will inform
the board when those items can be fur
nished. There remains unexpended O
the appropriation $3.50 "a, exclusive O
liabilities incurred.
Professor Pierce favored asking tn
Board of Examiners to allow the boar,
sufficient funds to print the advance,
history, in order that it might be con
sist ant with the other and not have tw
books on different plans.
The board took a recess till afternoon
Afternoon Session.
1t was 2 o'clock when the board as
sembled
The Committee on Accredited Univer