Catalogue Shows Drop in Number Of Eng. Courses

The English Department this year is offering one of the smallest selections of middle group courses in its recent history, a check of course catalogues has revealed. This fall the Department is giving one full course (English 115) and six half-courses in a field which has stracted approximately 720 concentrators from Harvard and Radcliffe.

English 115 and only five half-courses will make up the Department's Spring Term slate. In the fall of 1959, the English Department gave two full courses and eight half-courses, and last spring the two full courses and seven half-courses were offered. These figures do not include Comparative Literature and Humanities courses listed under English, which have remained nearly constant at two per term.

This year's total of 13 half-units of middle-group English instruction compares unfavorably with the 19 half-units given in 1958-59 and 1959-60, and with the 21 offered in 1954-55 and the 22 in 1955-56.

Even with the five half-units of Hum and Comp Lit courses included, the 1960-61 total of 13 is the smallest since the 20 in 1956, and falls far below the figure of 23 reached is both 1958-59 and 1959-60.

Walter J. Bate '39, Chairman of the Department of English, pointed out the Department's practice of having its members give different courses in alternate years. "If we didn't describe bracketed courses, students wouldn't think they were missing anything," he said.

Bate said that two-thirds of the English tutors are engaged in the non-Honors program, which this year was extended to seniors. He said that the Department may seek to have more men put into tutorial work next year, if the current program meets with favor.