1943 Will Find It Harder To Stay Out of English A

Freshmen will find it harder than ever before to avoid taking English A, according to an announcement from University Hall which yesterday revealed that, starting with the class of 1943, the number of exemptions will be materially reduced, and that the traditional Yardling composition course will be counted toward a degree.

Entrants next fall will have to obtain Honors, or 505, in the English College Board to be exempted from English A. The old requirement was a mark of 560. It is expected that the special exemption English examination given in September for those admitted without College Boards will be correspondingly stiffened.

Leighton Explains Change

Commenting on the change, Dean Leighton said yesterday, "The Faculty Council has recently voted that begining with the class of 1943 the maximum requirements for the bachelor's degree shall be 16 courses, or 15 courses for men doing tutorial work under Plan A, including such work in English composition during the Freshman year as may be prescribed, instead of 15 or 16 courses in addition to English A as the been required in the past.

"In other words," he went on to say, "students required to take English A will no longer be required to take an extra course for the degree. Any student, however, who wishes to broaden his first year's program by taking a fifth course may do so, under the terms of the recent faculty vote, without payment of an additional course fee.

Many Now Exempt

"During the last three years, about 45 per cent of the students who have taken the College Board Entrance Examination in English have gained exemption from English A; and from 9.6 per cent to 16.4 per cent of the men admitted by the Honor or Upper Seventh Plan who have taken the anticipatory examination, given by the University at the beginning of the Freshman year, have gained exemption.

"Because of its belief in the primary importance of a command of good written English in the student's whole training," Dean Leighton continued, "and its desire to strengthen the position of English A, which seeks to aid students at the outset in gaining such a command, the Faculty Council has decided to reduce the number of students exempted from this course. In the future the Committee for Elementary Modern language Instruction will be given authority to determine what students shall be exempt from English A.

"For the year 1939-40, this Committee has announced that only those students who have obtained Honors (a grade of 595) in the College Board examination in English will be exempt without further examination. Students who receive a grade between 560, which has previously been the exemption level, and 595 will be given an opportunity, if they wish to use it, of taking the special English examination on registration day in September.

"This examination has been given in the past, and will continue to be given, for the benefit of those students admitted without College Board examinations who wish to try for exemption."

Theodore Morrison '23, assistant professor of English, who heads the English A staff, yesterday commented that, "Obviously a serious enlargement of responsibility will devolve upon English A as a result of its new position."