INTRODUCTORY COURSES

Instruction in an elementary course, besides imparting definite knowledge, should have two aims,--to give the student a general survey of the field and to present it to him in such a way that any taste he may have for the subject will be encouraged. The first requirement is more easily met than the second; for after absorbing a certain number of lectures and struggling over as much as possible of the outside reading, a man can scarcely fail to secure a perspective of the work that may be useful to him later on. But in many cases, this work is arranged in a manner tending to destroy his appetite for additional learning in the topic under consideration and he is only too glad to conclude his experiments in that department.

The chief trouble appears to be an unreasonable concentration by the teacher on a vast number of minute points instead of stressing principally the "high spots" of a subject. This insistence on a wealth of detail is quite justified in advanced courses or courses of research; but in an elementary course it seems out of place, arouses immediate antagonism on the part of the student and so discourages him that he finds no incentive either to continue his work with interest or to enroll in another course under that department.

Particularly is this true of half courses such as Fine Arts 1c, where a second half course naturally fellows to complete a study of the subject. Instead of creating a desire to pursue a topic, which in itself may be one of the most engaging and valuable the college offers, the over abundance of minutiae often is too great a burden for the average student and he shrinks from a continuance of such a demand upon his memory in the next term. A so-called introductory course that leaves behind it a group of disappointed students who are wary of similar courses in spite of the advantages which should be gained by their study, cannot but call forth criticism in the hope that the obvious remedy will be applied.