New-York tribune., 1899-07-16
ryG1ISB FOR COLLEGE ENTRANCE.

For wears the boy preparing to enter cOhege
was so intem Jn his Greek and Latin that II
was largely 4 matter of luck If as freshman ne
could be said 10 know any English AT all. II he
bonnened 10 spring from a family where books
wore valued. and browsed in library as
child. there was chance that he would nave
tle beginnings of some literary taste; better sti'
some real love for literature, and rarely some
pronise of both facility and accuracy III the
Use of words If he had no such good fortune
he was often scarcely able to write credl'apie
English letter. and. however devoted TO gettihg
an education had little aspiration for, or ihdeeu
concontion Of culture Unfortunately, too the
overaCe college course did little TO correct these
defects of earlier training. The college was so
busv crowding into four years foreign IAN
cuagcs. serious mathematics. snatterlng ol
natural sciences in popular demand ana mn
ishing layer of history. logic and metaphysics
/ that il assumed the student to he well grounded
I'm his mother tongue as indeed he should have
bcen and gave him such English as II gave at
all for an elegant polish TO this presupposeu
English foundation that in fact did not exist
And the nreparatorv schools for their part, find
| ing English taken rs a matter OF course py the
co,leoos took if as a matter of course them
solves quite satisfied to send out boys equipped
for tho entrance examinations and little else.
The result was that the English requirements
Of the matrlcuate were too frequently what
would do reasonable credit to boy OF twelve
about to begin his college preparatory course
T Consequently the country is full OF college grad
uotcs who cannot write "A graceful or effective
paragraph. and who never would dream of read
ing for the pure love of letters
/ Rut gradually the colleges are ceasng to be
dominated by Dogberry's notion that ito write
and read comes by nature, and so, too, the pre-
paratory schools are beginning TO give some
thing like that due attention to English without
which English in college can never reach us
proper goal be il never so faithfully studied
The new report OF the Committee on College
Entrance Requirements of the National Educa
tional Association shows a gratifying apprecla
ton of the need Of greater attention 10 thiS
most important branch of study. II is llttle
difficult 10 do credit to standards OF culture sci
forth in "Chimme Fadden' dialect. Such mon
strosties as thru" "thruout, tho. "thoroly
and others of the same sort suggest the crudi'y
of faddsh and half trained pedagogy rather
than the ripe and rounded culture needed Tor
the leadership and inspiration of American
| youth. Nevertheless. the recommendations are
good even If they come in voice more reini-
niscent Of the Bowery than of Oxford. The
committee calls for the allotment of four periods
a week for four years 10 preparatory work lh
English. and asks that at least one-half OF this
time he devoted to literature. 1t also recon-
| mends that suggestive list OF books, graded
| and classified be offered. not less than thirty
for eoch year, from which not less than five of
average length shall be required of each pupil for
classroom work and home reading. tentative
list is presented with the report including for
the first year Lambs Tales from Shakespeare
not "of Shakespeare" rs the proof reader too
intent on freak spelling makes it-"Snow
Round." THE Jungle Books" Tom Brown
Lincoln's gettysburg Address" THE Man
Without n Country" "Ivanhoe" and other books
of similar rank. As the years go on adventure
gives way somewhat, and we find the fourth
year list including an abridgment Of Bryce s
american Commonwealth" Winters Shake
speares England" Spencer's Essay on Style
Walden" David Copperheld," Henry Es-
mOnd' and Hamlet
The methods of study. both in literature and
composition. are carefully laid out and special
attention Is drawn to the necessity OF thorough
training in the essence Of grammar, II not In the
formal science, and TO the value Of constant
practice in punctuation and other primary mat
ters Of writing rs well as In the more ambitious
fields of composition. This cannot he insisted
upon too strongly. particularly in view Of past
| neglect and the common illiterateness- that is
not TOO strong a word-of college students and
college graduates with respect to that most