The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-09-13
INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH.
From the Springfield Republican.

There has been a serious and commend
abe effort of late years to give a more
important pace in the college curriculum
to the study of English, and one feature
of the movement has been the adoption
by many colleges of a uniform list of le-
quired masterpieces of literature on which
candidates for admission to the college
must pass an examination But the bull
letin which has just been issued by Rich
ard Jones, inspector of literature in the
University of New York, on college En-
| trance 'Englsh,' shows that whatever
unity may have been attained as to text
books, there is nothing but diversity as
to the methods of examination. Mr.. Jones
made inquiries of the professors of Eng
| lish in various institutions, and their re-
plies are given in his pamphlet, together
with preface by himself.
The contrast of the prevailing ideas is
singular. At Harvard the chief require
| ment is ito write English" which is Cer-
tainly one of the simplest things to test
| by an examination. At Cornell the can
| ddatc is required to write a composition
| based upon literary model such as a
| 1j0-word digest of "Comus." At the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania the applicant is
| asked to parse and to point out 1.-THE les
son" of "Comus," and to name the char
acters in "The Merchant of Venice" tell
| ing also in which act and scene the chief
| characters appear together, and why they
| do not appear in any other scene. At
| Trinity the professor contents himself
| with setting list of hard words for the
| new freshmen to pronounce, and at Ro-
| chester, after giving the etymolosy OF
certain words, the candidate is requested
| to discuss this novel and startling propo-
stion: las civilization advances, poetry
| almost necessarily Declines" If he
emerges from this struggle, he is asked
to tell how old Macau.ay was when he
| wrote the essay on Milton" The Uni
versity of Indiana goes deep into literary
art, and asks it's freshmen to explain
| "foreshadowing," local color" "dra-
matte suspense" etc, and to discuss the
need of a fifth act in "The Merchant of
Venice" At the University of Chicago
the candidate is obliged to correct gram
matical errors; at Cornell ne may be
| asked to name the members of the Spec
tator club. At Wesleyan he is obliged TO
decide whether he thinks Rosalind "over-
bold and unwomanly in her talk with Or
lando," a topic which, as Mr.. Jones OBJ
serves, would certainly enliven the Eng
lish recitations of secondary school,"
1t is indeed with reference to the most
| desirable method of conducting the work
in English in the lower schools that this
| bulletin was prepared. 1t is no wonder
that with such a distracting variety of
ideals in the colleges the secondary
teachers should hardly know what to
aim at. Mr.. Jones comes to the conclu-
sion, after a careful study of his docu-
ments, that unanimity of opinion as ia
the kind of study-whether composition
or the reading of literature-is not at
present to be hoped for. The eXtraordin-
airy want of harmony shown in the col
lege may lead many to sympathze with
Professor II. A. Beers. of Yale, who
| requirement in English The vote estab-
fishing such requirement at Yale was
| passed over my head, and / have moth.
ing to do with the examination, which
consider useless" That II Is useless OF
nearly so, under the present lack of sys.
TEN, may well be, and examinations
count for next to nothing in literature
at the best Nevertheless, ii would be a
pity to drop them now, for they repre-.
sent the rather tardy and meager rec.
ognition which the colleges have given tC
English. There Is a constant temptation
for fitting schools to slight studies which
are not required, in favor of those which
will improve the collegiate standing OF
their graduates, and there should be
some way of agreeing upon the best
ideals and methods of English study SC
that colleges and schools may act In har.
mony.
The requirements in English for adms,
sion to the freshman year are certainly
none too severe, and the various reports
on the condition of classes entering Har.
ward show somewhat shocking state
OF affairs. 1t Is not too much to ASK
that the candidate for admission be able
to write page of decent English or
some topic within his comprehension and
show that he has read few good books
with care. Less could hardly he asked
Of one preparing for a liberal cduca.