CLASSIC REQUIREMENTS IN ENGLISH

While Freshmen are searching for a field of concentration, many will be influenced in their choice by the fact that English concentrators must have passed C.P.3 in Latin or Greek or the equivalent in order to go out for honors. The intention of the Department is apparently to encourage high-school boys to acquire a classical foundation, though it is certain that few have ever heard of such a requirement till their Freshman year. Actually the Department discourages some Freshmen from deciding to concentrate in English; others, finding themselves handicapped, are content to run along smoothly on a 'C' level and lose all the advantages of tutorial and thesis which are connected with honors. Every year men turn away from the field of English mainly for the reason that they broke from tradition and took courses in German instead of Latin in preparatory school.

The present classical requirement is half-hearted in its purpose and desultory in its attempt to encourage a classical background. The average concentrator is left to his own devices while the superior student who can better choose his own needs is handicapped. It is hoped that sometime in the not-too-distant future the English Department will either find a better method of encouragement or consign classical requirements to the ash-can where they belong.