Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-10-26
e. c. LEIGHTON, 1873 Water Street, Augusta, Me.

school, while other studies became
shadows. Tie English teacher should
! foster the love of literature. Books can
| be classified, some are directed to the
| intellect, some to the imagination, some
| to the scnsibilities and some to the will.
| This gives an idea of what may be
| gotten out of literature in college. One
great value is recreation; another is in
| formation; a third, experience Of life,
| breadth of view; a fourth is develop
| ment of imagination, emotions and
moral character.
| The methods of study should be such
as to accomplish these ends. We are
to teach our students to understand, to
| feel, to imagine, to appreciate and to
know why
| One of the things a college student
! ought to be able to do is to read with
| the mind: to understand or to know
| that he does not. Eye reading is to
| he deplored. One reason why students
do not read well is that they do not
| understand. One result of the late la
mented system of reading is this eye
reading.
| The methods of the new nature study
should be applied to literature. A great
story or poem was worth as much as
any bug in the State of Maine.
| The books used should furnish mate
rial for all these objects which have
| been outlined. Students who come to
| colleges come from places where there
are all sorts of literary conditions. The
| teacher should seek, first of ALL to
bring each one to the interest in liter
allure which will result in the love of
reading.
| A look over the sea of troubles re-
vealed a great many wrecks, he said,
and he read list of books dropped
| from the prescribed curriculum in the
| last few years. One, he said, had been
the back bone of the whole; Burke on
| Cancellation, and he humorously char
| acterized it, adding that it should be
| consigned to the limbo where it be-
| longed.
High, made one of the wittiest and
abest addresses of the day and said
some rather startling things. A state
| ment had been made, he said, that if
| two boys of equal ability began on the
| study of Latin and the other on Eng
| lish, the one studying Latin would
| le''iu lliuIG llltl the
other This was ridiculously false
Tom Reed defined statesman as a poll
tician who IS dead. The college professor
defines an author as writer who is dead.
| He then gave a resume of the books
studied, showing how impractical a list
was used. lie made a plea for American
| literature to be taught in our schools.
The aim of teaching was doubly to teach
| English and to interest in literature. The
| main question was utility; but much
| might be done in the High school to di-
rect the reading of Students if tie right
method were used. Colleges might we'll
insist on d better translation of foreign
! languages. Literal translation might be
better called illiterate translation. We are
asked to teach good English and to in
| Spire a love of literature. The colleges
are at fault in the books prescribed. They
commanded that English of anywhere
| from 100 to 800 years ago shall be taught
| in the expectation that students come to
college fitted in the English of today He
hoped that books might be prescribed
/ from which current, disable English
enough might be learned to enable boy
to give his football signals intcllgcntIy
and Understandings.
Miss Adele Gilpatric of Coburn CLASH
cal Institute, was the next speaker, and
made very sensible clear cut address
She had had one question in mind for
some time. Do the college requirements
meet the needs of the student? The aims
of teaching should be three: To enable
the student to understand the thought of
the authors; to enable him to express his
pxxn hp, ,r
good literature.
There were two classes of students in
the secondary schools; Those fitting for
college, and the majority fitting for life
Hence great deal of adaptation had to
be used The colleges in aiming to give
definite announcement of what woulr
be required for admission, gave the i'm
preston that the main emphasis was tol
he laid upon literature; but their inten
ton was doubtless all right, and they did
not expect to have composition neglected
The results of present teaching were
not satisfactory because the student got
bookish style, wrote the authors ideas
and used no originality There was much
danger of plagiarism by the student; but
the blame attached to the teacher, for
.opliging him to write on subjects not in
teresting to him, and about which he
could have no ideas of his own, The aim
shouid be to get the student to thinking,
relegate the literary work to its own
sphere and make the composition work
rest upon the experiences of the student.
Training in both oral and written ex-
preston was needed and should be at
tended to. y
she mad recently asked her senior class
II the books read had awakened any in
terest IN literature, but to her surprise
more than half of them answered that
they had not
ohe ieit there was too much critical. in
tenslVe work on all the books used. when |
part were intended only for reading. Time