HILLYER REVEALS NEW PLANS FOR ENGLISH A

"More individual attention for students of all grades of ability, is the development which will be continued in the English A course next year," according to Professor R. S. Hillyer '17, who is in charge of the course. Professor Hillyer also said that there would be no final or mid-year examination next year, in accordance with the policy initiated this winter.

When asked whether the plan had proved too lenient and whether there would be a closer checking-up next year, he replied that a student would be just as likely to take liberties with more regular classes as he would with fewer conferences, and that the course would not be changed next year on this account. "We are not interested in holding classes merely as a disciplinary measure," he said, "but we want the students to write well and read intelligently, and we have found the conference system best fitted for this purpose."

Smaller Groups

At present there are 26 sections, with about 30 students in each. The section meets once a week, and is divided into groups of four which meet once every two weeks for the rest of the work. Next year more sections will be organized, with only 20 men in a section, and there will be more individual conferences. "This system will allow the exceptional men to go at their own pace," he pointed out, "while the men of less than average ability will have their problems more carefully worked out than they other- wise could, even in a small group."

Professor Hillyer went on to indicate that another advantage of the conference system is that the students will be able to develop taste in writing, which is an individual question and cannot be worked out in large groups Furthermore, the system will fend to fit in more closely with the tutorial plan, which is becoming increasingly important in the college. Questioned whether there would be an increase of prescribed reading, he answered that, on the other hand, the men would be urged to develop their own fasts as much as possible