Evening star., 1909-09-12

| The percentage of those to make from
/ one to ten mistakes is nearly equal in
! the three classes, but here the similarity
ends. The proportion of accurate spoilers
+, III group is twice as great in group
! Il and over three times that in group
| q. on the other hand there is not a
| representative of group among those
making over twenty mistakes, while, over
a tenth of group C come within this IN
desirable class, and over a twentieth of
group are to be found in the same
column. The proportion of group A to
make 11-2o mistakes is much smaller
, than of B or C.
This difference inothe ability to spell
correctly, which distinguishes the best
from the poorest college students. is sim
ply one manifestation of something far
more fundamental. 1t is a difference in
accuracy of detail. In other words. the
exceptional student has a greater capaci-
" for taking pains His wits may not
be so sharp for the ready guess in the
classroom, he may not be 50 alert to
make the most of an emergency, but he
Is the stuff of which scholars are made.
Doubtless many of the mistakes in
spelling were due to carelessness and
haste. Any one who is acquainted with
the American college student will admit
that one of his chief faults is procrasti-
| nation. He will postpone work on any
required subject until the last possible mo-
ment, when IL is finished or half finished
with rush. There is no time for a lei
surely reading of an essay to make sure
| that there are no trifiing mistakes due to
| carelessneSs. The essays which form the
| basis of this study were due upon a par
| ticular day Nine were handed in before
| they were due Seven of these were
written by men in group a, the remain
| ing. two in group B. Twenty-seven were
| from one to seven days late. OF these.
twenty-one were from group c. five from
1 o n frnyy, he
| average number of misspellings in the
| essays which were late was almost ex-
| actly fourteen.
| In the course there were seventeen men
| who were either editors of some of the
student publications had been promi
nent in the literary activities of the COL
| lege. The essays of all but six of these
men We're typewriter and therefore cou d
not enter into the comparison, but of the
| six remaining there was not misspelled
word in five of them, while the sixth fur
| nished two mistakes. 1t is unwise to
| generaliZe from such meager data, but it
| is evident that If student expects to be-
come leader in the literary activities of
| the college he must at any rate have
! learned to spell correctly. Cause and eff
! feet are here doubtless closely inter-
| related.
l was interested IN reading the essays
of the two Chinese students in the coursa,
| for l expected that they would be greatly
troubled by the intricacies Of the lam
SudSG, DuG not d mistake IN Sp6lllnR was
| to be found in either essay. and the hand
writing was particularly clear. Similar
praise could not be given to the penman-
ship of all of the essays submitted, al
though in most cases 1t easily legi-
BILE One essay in particular was returned
with regret, for it was the finest speci-
men of an illegible scrawl l ever en-
countered. Doubtless the mistakes in
/ spelling were more numerous than these
statistics imply. for the student was
oi1r the banafif nf 60nhf f,ll
Other Offenders
Poor spelling is evidently not con
fined to students of Yale College. Less
than a week ago I received a letter
from graduate of western college.
asking what steps We're necessary TO
obtain the degree of NJ. A. at Yale. He
also informed me that he held at pres
ent "batchelers" degree.
1t is evident that something should be
done to raise the standard of spelling
among college students. But the coll
lege is not the place for such inStruc-
| ton 1t should be part of the ele-
mentary education. So many additional
studies have been crowded into the
| grammar schools that spelling no long
er occupies the position of prominence
which it held fifty years ago. The
i spelling bee was then possibly the chief
/ intellectual test of the community To
/ be the best speller was a coveted hon.
/ or So many studies have been added
10 The curriculum that the time devotn;;
I 10 spelling must ne cuTtailed. Perhap ps
/ we have gone too far Certainly col
iegc. students are deficient in this re-
i spect anu the college authorities are
| trying 20 place the blame where it be-
/ longs by making one Of the tests in
/ English the ability 10 write grammati-
+! cal English in words correctly spelled
Doubtless spelling IS. to a consider ra Bile
extent a memory test which some
i persons find il extremely difficult 10