Henderson daily dispatch., 1940-01-12
N. G.. State
Experiments
On Freshmen
Daily Dispatch Bureau,
In the Sir Walter Hotel.

Raleigh. Jan. l2.-The english
Department of North Carolina State
College began with this term a radl-
cal departure from previous prece-
dent by initiating 'remedlal pro
gram tor freshmen found deficient
N English.
Dr.. Lodwick c. Hartley, acting
chairman of the English depart
ment. says that the program was
deemed necessary because OF the
very high percentage OF freshmen
entering college each year without
adequate training in the fundamcn-
tails OF reading and writing. inns
deficiency. he said, is not confined
to students coming from any par
ticular section of the State OF from
any particular class of high schools
but appears to exist about evenly
all over North Carolina.
He announced that all freshmen
who failed in English during the iall
term nave been placed IN ESecIal
classes designed to give them raln-
ing in the fundamentals Of writing
and reading.
Our work, commented DR..
Hartley. lis now in an experiment
ral stage. ..,t not like To pre-
dict the outcome, but we believe we
are moving in the right direction.
Glasses for the deficient fresh
men meet On the regular college
schedule Of three hours 4 week. inc
-h,Ss. periodS are devoted to prob
ans in composition and reading. n
,0-rth hour IS devoted to laboratory
wvrl, consisting of writing under
the immediate supervision of the
Instructor.
Discussing the program Dr.. Hart
lev explained: We have found over
! period Of years that most fail
.,.cS in the 1irSt term of English
40 due to deficiencies N AISh
sc:uoI training.
These GeIIciencieS are usually
t;,;e u ore OF both Of CD the made
l,;atr development Of 4 reading
-.cEsrlunG and (2) inadequate
training in the actual practice OF
.r;t..g.
These deficiencies most students
ara ,Yacle TO make up in the FIRST
tenn q college English fort ne 3lm-
vle reason mat il is impossible Ior
/ StJGent 10 do n one term OF COL
ego work THAT he has failed TO do
..s.. Apparently. most high school
\ :ow years Of high school Eng
training in English. especially IN
,i..S State. : likely TO be menaced
-. q tendency either toward over
e.,,phaSis on the so-called literature
work o. over-e!nphaSis on theoreu-
cal grammar. The first OF these eX-
tYe.nes should in theory build up
the students reading background.
Unfortunately. however. the en-
phasis Of most high school litera-
tlIre work on the facts OF literary
history rather than on the develop
nlent Of sound reading habits does
not remove the serious handicap
Of most college freshmen. Very OF
zen rigid training in theoreflcal
grammar is not transferred to the
students speech and writing habits.
Therefore. We often find students
who can parse ard C'?~"~!N with
some efficiency and yet who con-
stantly make the most serious OF
composition errors.
Most students in high school are
required TO write only infrequently.
The fault mere is not entirely that
OF the high schools. Over-crowded
conditions in many schools make
paper work particularly burden
some. When schools are under
stated, the teachers are more or
less forced to defend themselves by
reducing writing to minimum.
State colleges work with fresh
men deficient in English is to be
remedial in the truest sense"
At the beginning Of the term, the
instructor is encouraged to make
diagnostic tests of the students
actual needs and to center his teach
ing upon the actual problems which
ne finds his classes confronted. Not
only is the student encouraged TO
write. as much as possible, but he is
ncouraged to develop reading in
terestS.