Instruction of English in the University Rapped by Alumnus

The following extract dealing with the teaching of English in the University is printed by permission of The Alumni Bulletin, in the current issue of which the entire article appears in the form of a letter to the editors by Osborne Earle '25.

Something is very seriously wrong with the teaching of English in Harvard College. Many beside myself feel this to be true, and some, more immediately concerned, are struggling to improve the situation; but because I have recently been through the awful mill of English concentration, and, because through business activity since graduation I have come in direct contact with English instruction in other colleges, I feel justified in writing my criticisms.

The chief trouble, as I see it, is the lack of contact, or rather of the right contact, between student and teacher. I know that the introduction of the tutors has been designed to overcome this defect, but I feel that their wings are clipped before they start by the very nature of their task. Their purpose is to help their men prepare for the general examinations in English-- examinations based on the assumption that knowledge of English literature is to be attained only through a survey of each period in its historical development, and through a study of all representative men whether great artists or not. A knowledge of this kind is surely desirable. The general examinations deserve commendation for their attempt to coordinate scattered courses and to clarify for each student the sequence of literary events; but I believe that they have obscured other and more vital aspects of the study of English literature, that their emphasis has tended to place much too high a premium on literary history.

Tutor Powerless Except to Direct

In view of this situation, the tutor is quite powerless to do anything but direct his student to such reading as will cover the writers left unstudied in his regular courses and coach him on the best ways of handling examination questions. Even if the tutor has a strong personal love for literature as one of the fine arts, he has not time to share his enthusiasm with those who come to him for direction, no time to arouse in them a taste for beauty, or to show that the cultivation of critical standards may help each one to find in his reading something that may always give pleasure. Were he to spend time for these things his students would probably fail in the examinations, and in consequence he would be a poor tutor in the light of present Harvard requirements.

With the introduction of the tutorial system, Harvard has made a great concession to the importance of teaching, of inspirational contact between instructor and student, in undergraduate work, but before the system can achieve any true educational success the constraining of feet of the divisional examinations must be removed. With them constantly in sight, literature becomes for teacher and taught a mere field of cut and dried grain that must be hastily gathered in before the storm. It is unappetizing but necessary fodder--not a thing of beauty, allve, and to be enjoyed for its own sake.

Present Conditions Ban Best Tutors

Not only do these examinations set strict limits on the relationship between tutor and student. I believe that they are capable of exercising a very unwhole-some influence in respect to the kind of person chosen to fill the position, thus further impairing the contact I feel to be so important. Most young men who are enthusiastically concerned to become successful teachers, and who may by good fortune possess creative imaginations of their own, will not be content to labor long under the shackles of the traditional conception of literature and of these new examinations which extend its power to so great a degree. They cannot sincerely believe that the passing of such examinations represents a worthy achievement; they will be unwilling to expend their energies in helping students to succeed in them; and they will refuse to attempt teaching where their chances of effective personal work are so small.

English A Instructor Important

For the greater development of the contact between student and teacher, English A, as well as the tutorial system, offers opportunities worthy of inquiry. In this first year of college work a man may wield great personal influence over his Freshmen, and it is important that the work be made sufficient appealing to draw those who have the power to exert such an influence. Some motion has already been made to give the instructors a chance to express their own tastes in the particular kind of work they are to teach. In the second half year the various sections of the course pursue specialized lines of study. But, in spite of this, I believe there is need for a much greater individual opportunity. Now that only the inferior Freshmen are required to take English A, the instructor's task in the course has become even less attractive than formerly, and it is more essential that the section men should not be confined to the teaching of it alone. They should be allowed to direct advanced literature courses of their own in order to keep them fresh and to give them the hope of advancement. To make this possible, and to prevent interference with courses that have long been given by older members of the Department, it would do no harm to institute a few new courses designed especially for undergraduates. More courses would mean less of the baneful crowding in those already in existence and greater opportunity for individual student as well as for young teacher . . . . . . .