New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-28
GOOD EVERYDAY ENGLISH.
HIGH SCHOOLS SHOULD GIVE MORE
TINE TO GRAMMAR.
TWO POUNDS OF ENERGY TO LITERATURE AM
ONLY ONE TO COMPOSITION. THOUGH
THE LATTER is MORE Es-

sENTIAL.
L. T Damon OF Chicago, in his lecture on Eng
sh in Our High Schools" makes strong plea lof
thorough study OF grammar IN '"e "'s"
schools. He speaks as follows:
Good English. as a preparation for lie, Is much
like good manners. a sort OF sine qua noh Una.
can be attained only after much endeavor ana
many furnishings. Let tell you what comes
under my own eye. Nearly 50 per cent OF the appi
cants for admission to the University or Chicaeo
by examination regularly fail in English III one
recent examination Is per cent failed Ana the ca
aminations easy They did, TO be sure ASK
few general questions about literature. and re"
simple questions in grammar but my Instructions
10 my readers were admit every student VINO can
write English with a respectable amount OF cor
rectness and clearness.' In other WORDS soe'ni''e
like half the students turned out form our high
schools are. to put It frankly. illtcrate. lnes
speak and write with muddle-headedness ana
disregard for the laws OF English syntax ina. 10 Do
complete as It IS objectionable. Something theh' Is
wrong Indeed even the teachers OF the hish
schools willing to admit IL.
HARD TO TEACH COMPOSITION
"One trouble with our high schools is that they
have set the study OF literature too high' anu ,o
study Of composition too low. the honest cii'io
must admit that the ordinary hlgh schoo' pup"
ca nnot understand what makes thing literature
and that he does not and never VIII need ,na'
butcher for the aesthetic as quarry Vi 80
The function OF the preparatory school, says o''s
of these pamphlets. is to ht It's stuoehls loi nv
II that is so, the author is condemned GU. Va NC,
own mouth. The vast majority OF our msh so"oo
pupis who are turned loose in the business "or'o
Will not succeed whit less because they nave
rover heard OF Ben Jonson Christopher Mar
,owe They may even be very tolerable business
men II Shakespeare Is TO them but name. bu'
their effectiveness Is distinctly impaired II '"e'
talk incorrectly and obscurely. IL seems iea'i'
axiomatic that in school work the study or Eng
fish literature Is less necessary than the s'uu' -
what makes correct. everyday Engisn. IN oa.sa
words the schools wrong in giving two pouhdS
~ energy 10 literature and to composition.
because the latter s essential. the former IN
essential.
ct very much fear that one other reason why
compositlon is in many schools a slighted suo-
feet and literature an overemphasized one Is tha'
II "a hard 20 teach composition. even poorly ana
easy TO teach literature poorly. kno" 100
well the strain OF reading during the year
hundreds Of compositions SO crude that al me enp
Put that IS not the point The teacher Is not nired
to do what is interesting TO himsel, put 70 40 a.
that If he deceivcs himself into thinking that
high school class is equal to a college class. . .o
THE study Of English-one cannot repeat ~ 700 90
often-is primarily 70 make the pup. caps soc,y
moving about creditably IN busineTs ana arrai nro6
And when our pamphicteer says ne se"y a. ~ n
.ern is one with that OF public education IL aims 20
refine the mass OF average nina VI ~ -
TO the higher issues OF ME- and I'll the individua :,
IS started toward sef-reolizaton she Is c'a 1
the function that was never properly htts
OF us who pay taxes to support the public schoos
care very little whether every Pupil comes our iS
"a 20 mat ne should be fitted out with the essentials
Of education II he does no; get that we nave Deen
cheated.
OLD-FAsHIONED GRAMMAR
The emDhass belongs then. on composition and
e-arnn,ar but not on rhetoric Grammar is not TO
no dismissed in one semester OF the high school
term IL may not be necessary to take II up IN 'he
first year for Il may be that the pupil has at that
time some idea OF the rules and fashions OF speech
that he is supposed to have learned IN the grammar
school He VIII certainly have forgotten UoS,
,hincs however by the end Of that year: Ana
,h4n ne needs "a dose of formal grammar. niue
dogrnatisn IS out of place with the student az
toned grammar. the thing wniGn e all Is
The schooboy voices his opinion when he says
Grammar amt no use The trouble with most boy
e that they nave no standard OF good Englsh.
Many pupils hear 10 good English at al excep,
That which comes from their teachers: To tell such
Nils that they can learn by observation what good
English is IS nothing short OF folly They neeG TO
have their attention directed to matters o, la.-
n the bad language they hear. In nine cases GU,
o. tel the standards Will be iors3tten aImo1 10 a.
lsh a. home this Is serious matter for the
many who learn nothing no system would be aie-
81 Youth no more interesting and advantageous
subject than grammar could be FOUND. .o,..,.,.
'i'rac,!cally, then. the questions most necessary
FOR the high school pupil are those OF grammar,
ami he structure o; paragraphs and whole cornpo-
sitions All the work should De done simply, IN 4
COMMUNICATING spirit. and with no other end than
making the student understand that ne must De
able 20 express himself correctly. clearly, and, so
FAR As In him Hes. effectively. Literature should he
studied just far As II he pa 10 attain this aim
ana not bit until at least % per cen, OF the