I 
 
UNIVERSITY BULLETIN 
 
 LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 
 
 Published by the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical 
 College at Baton Rouge. Issued monthly except November and December, 
 
 Entered December 22, 1909, at Baton Rouge, La., as second-class matter, under 
 Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. 
 
 VOL. VI— N. S. JANUARY, 1915 No. 1 —Part 2 
 
 ENGLISH IN THE 
 HIGH SCHOOL 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT CRANBERRY REED, A. M., Ph.D. 
 
 Professor of English Literature in charge of the 
 
 Department of Comparative Literature, 
 
 Louisiana State University. 
 
 Read at the Annual Meeting of the High School Principals of Louisiana, 
 in Baton Rouge, December 10, 1914. 
 
 Reprinted from The Louisiana School Work, ^Janua^y, 1915. 
 

ENGLISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 In an address delivered before the State Teachers' Associa- 
 tion last April our State Superintendent said: "A very large 
 per cent of the material contained in text-books and taught chil- 
 dren is useless. It should be supplanted by useful material. "We 
 require children to spell 20,000 words found in the spelling 
 books, 15,000 of which are never used in a written communica- 
 tion, and are therefore of no value. I am inclined to believe that 
 the percentage of dead timber in most of the other subjects is 
 fully as high." I think the Superintendent is undoubtedly 
 right in his contention. Speaking for the subject of English, 
 in which we are concerned at present, I am convinced that bur 
 spelling books, our grammars, and our rhetorics contain much 
 material that has little practical value either for the pupil who 
 goes out from the school into life or for the pupil who goes 
 from the school to the university for advanced work. The boy 
 or girl who habitually spells, in a correct manner, 5,000 of the 
 English words most frequently used in writing has a good work- 
 ing basis in language as far as English orthography is concerned. 
 The principles of grammar which the average pupil will find of 
 practical use in life, or in further work in English or other lan- 
 guages in college, can be stated and illustrated within 100 pages. 
 And the theory of rhetoric which is put into practical use can 
 be given within 25 pages. These figures represent, to be Sure, 
 minimum essentials. But they give a fair idea of the useless 
 material contained in the numerous text-books our students at- 
 tempt to master. One very important problem in English teach- 
 ing, therefore, is to determine what things are essential and to 
 eliminate those things which are unessential. 
 
 Not only are we attempting to teach much that is of little 
 practical value, but we are wasting our energies, as well as those 
 of our pupils, in tiresome and useless repetition of subject^ 
 matter. For example, we attempt to teach pupils to spell the 
 same list of words in the elementary schools, in the high sehoolsy 
 and in the universities ; and we attempt to drill students on 
 the same principles of grammar at two or three different periods 
 
in the elementary schools, and then force them to take another 
 course in grammar in the high school. Aside from wasting time, 
 repetition effects the loss of spontaneous interest in a subject 
 which is so essential to real progress in all educational work. 
 The pupil cannot believe, as he goes over the same ground in 
 the various grades, that he is getting anywhere ; and his parents 
 share this feeling with him. What is the effect of this? I be- 
 lieve that much of the dropping out of pupils from the schools 
 is due to this condition alone. I believe, furthermore, that many 
 of those who remain in school feel that they are not receiving 
 adequate preparation for life. Two things, then, we should do 
 at once in our work in English. We should eliminate from our 
 text-books the "dead timber" which they contain; and we should 
 organize our work in such a way as to avoid wearisome and 
 useless repetition. 
 
 With these ideals in mind, let us consider the work in English 
 in the high school. This work, as we know, consists of composi- 
 tion and rhetoric, literature, grammar, and spelling. I shall limit 
 this paper to a discussion of the aims and organization of these 
 subjects in the high school course. 
 
 First, what are the aims in teaching composition and rhetoric ? 
 Briefly stated, they are: (1) to give the pupil further training 
 in the mechanics of writing: (2) to give him increasing power in 
 oral and written speech; (3) to help him to think more clearly 
 and accurately; and (4) to develop in him a fuller appreciation 
 of good literature and increasing interest in the world in which 
 he lives. A brief exposition of the meaning and significance of 
 these aims may not be out of place. 
 
 Under the mechanics of writing we may include neatness and 
 legibility of manuscript, correct spelling and punctuation, cor- 
 rect use of language, proper placing of the material on the page — 
 in a word, all outward means of making the thought quickly and 
 easily understood. This part of the work is highly important; 
 the work, moreover, has a decided practical value, because ef- 
 ficiency in it is the first and often the only requirement made of 
 boys and girls in the business world. Pupils should be drilled 
 in the mechanics of writing until they habitually write legibly 
 and neatly, spell and punctuate correctly, avoid the common 
 
errors of speech, and place their work to the best advantage on 
 the written page. To do this work effectively the teacher should 
 require of his pupils short but frequent compositions ; he should 
 read these papers carefully and indicate on the margins or else- 
 where the mechanical errors ; and he should require his pupils to 
 rewrite their papers and to correct the mistakes which he has 
 indicated. The high school teacher cannot drill his pupils too 
 much or too carefully on the mechanics of writing. This work 
 should be thoroughly done not only because of the emphasis which 
 business men place upon it but because the pupil must master 
 this work 7iow or never. If a student does not habitually write 
 neatly and spell correctly when he enters college or goes out into 
 life he will, in all probability, never write neatly and spell cor- 
 rectly: his habits have been formed and cannot easily be 
 changed. 
 
 But the successful teacher of composition does not stop with 
 drilling his pupils in the mechanics of writing. His constant aim, 
 also, is to give them greater power in oral and written speech. 
 The masterpieces used for models, the theory of rhetoric, every 
 exercise and theme will be used as a means of giving them in- 
 creasing power in clear, correct, and accurate expression. The 
 teacher should remember that his ivork is tested not hy what his 
 pupils ktioiv about the models or the principles of rhetoric, hut 
 hy their ability to express their thoughts. Can they construct 
 clear and correct sentences? Can they write clear and interest- 
 ing paragraphs? Can they express exactly what they mean with 
 ease and readiness? This is the test, and this is an important 
 aim in composition. 
 
 But this power to express oneself clearly, accurately, and 
 easily is the result of clear and accurate thinking. In fact, there 
 can be no clear writing until there is clear thinking; one cannot 
 speak or write accurately until one thinks accurately. A course 
 in composition, therefore, is a course in logic. It is valuable 
 largely because it develops the student's power to think straight; 
 it forces him to recall past experiences, to collect new facts, to 
 analyze, weigh, and compare things, and on the basis of all this 
 evidence to construct or create new ideas. The real teacher of 
 composition, therefore, emphasizes the thought quite as much as 
 he does the form; he is as much interested in what his pupils 
 
say as he is in the manner in which they say it : indeed, his first 
 efforts are to get his pupils to think in order that they may get 
 something to say. One aim, then, in the teaching of composition 
 is to help students to think clearly and accurately. The course 
 in composition should contribute as much toward the develop* 
 ment of clear and logical thinking as any other subject in the 
 curriculum. 
 
 The fourth aim suggested is to develop in the pupil a fuller 
 appreciation of good literature and increasing appreciation of 
 the fullness of life. This aim is frequently lost sight of by the 
 teacher of composition. To be sure, it can not be measured 
 as easily as the three aims just considered. But if composi- 
 tion is taught successfull}^ the pupil will appreciate more fully 
 the great masterpieces, and he will see new meaning in life and 
 in external nature. The mere fact that he can construct a good 
 sentence or paragraph will help him to value aright the sentence 
 and paragraph structure of Macaulay and Stevenson. So also a 
 description of a character from life or of some phase of external 
 nature, and the narration of events that happen every day, will 
 increase his interest in the world in which he lives. Writing 
 about things gives one a fuller realization and appreciation of 
 the things themselves. 
 
 So much for the aims in teaching rhetoric and composition. 
 What are the aims in teaching literature? First of all, the 
 aim is to give the pupil an understanding and appreciation 
 of some of the great masterpieces of the language. The teach- 
 er may hope to realize this aim not by rhapsodizing about 
 the beauty of literature, or by analyzing its technique, or by 
 tracing the history of its literary forms and movements; he 
 can realize it only by making the student see and appreciate the 
 meaning of the masterpiece, by having him understand the ex- 
 periences and ideals of life set forth. A second aim is to give 
 the pupil — through a study of the characters, the philosophy, 
 and the ideals of the masterpieces — a broader and saner view of 
 life, a heightened sense of the demands of life, and higher and 
 nobler ideals of living. Another aim is to develop, through the 
 mental images and emotional appeal of literature, the imagina- 
 tion and emotions of the pupil. Such training is of inestimable 
 value in the development of originality, initiative, and power. 
 
A final aim is to help the pupil to realize himself ^ to see in 
 the poem or the story his own ideals of beauty and conduct 
 and the possibilities of his own life. 
 
 These aims the successful teacher of literature may secure 
 in his work if he will teach the right masterpieces and teach 
 them in the right way. The nature of the masterpiece is to be 
 determined, of course, by the nature of the pupil he is dealing 
 with. In every case it must be within the pupil's interest, range 
 of understanding, sympathy, and feeling. We should not, for 
 example, make the mistake of following the historical method if 
 by doing so we are studying poems or prose masterpieces which 
 are beyond the experience and understanding of the pupil. Many 
 high school principals have told me that the college entrance 
 requirements contain masterpieces that are entirely outside the 
 interest and experience of high school pupils. Such master- 
 pieces should, of course, be eliminated from the high school 
 course of study; the high school through its experience, and not 
 the college, must decide what masterpieces are suitable for the 
 boys and girls of high school grade and maturity. 
 
 The work in grammar is no less important than the work in 
 literature and composition. If the course in language in the 
 elementary grades has been organized so as to avoid tiresome 
 and useless repetition of drill on the same principles, the high 
 school pupil will welcome a course in formal grammar. It will 
 give him a comprehensive view of the whole subject and enable 
 him to see the importance and relationship of the various parts. 
 Furthermore, he is now able to grasp, as a result of his maturer 
 judgment, the scientific principles of the subject. A knowledge 
 of grammar is valuable for several reasons. In the first place, 
 it is an aid in composition ; the pupil who is ignorant of the prin- 
 ciples of grammar cannot understand the construction of the 
 English sentence. In the second place, it is an aid in deciding 
 questions of usage; the student who is unfamiliar with usage 
 cannot correct intelligently his own errors of speech. In the 
 third place, it is helpful in the interpretation of literature ; much 
 light is often thrown on a difficult passage in prose or poetry as a 
 result of the knowledge of grammatical principles. And, finally, 
 it is an excellent preparation for the study of such languages as 
 Latin, German, and French. The drill in grammar should be 
 
8 
 
 thorough, and the pupil should master the essentials so well that 
 he will be able to make application of them in all future work. 
 
 The subject of spelling does not properly belong in the high 
 school course. The high school will never reach the point, per- 
 haps, where a weak speller will not slip in. But the drill in 
 spelling should be so well done in the grades that 95 per cent of 
 the pupils who pass up into the high school will be able to spell, 
 automatically and habitually, the words which are most generally 
 used in composition. At present, it seems to be necessary to drill 
 high school pupils in spelling outside of the work in other courses 
 in English. The aim in this work is an eminently practical one : 
 to drill the pupil on the words which are most frequently used in 
 ordinary writing (for example, those found in the ordinary 
 newspapers and magazines), and to drill him so thoroughly on 
 these words that he will always spell them correctly in his writ- 
 ten work. 
 
 "We have considered the aims in teaching composition and 
 rhetoric, literature, grammar, and spelling in the high school. 
 Let us consider for a moment the organization of all this work. 
 The Department of Education proposes, as I understand it, the 
 following plan of work in English for the high school course of 
 study : Throughout the eighth grade the work is to be literature 
 (four times a week) ; composition, based on the masterpieces 
 studied in literature (once a week) ; and spelling (a separate 
 period of twenty minutes, five times a week). In the first half, 
 of the ninth grade, the work of the eighth grade is to be con- 
 tinued; in the second half of the ninth grade the work will be 
 formal grammar (four times a week), composition correlated 
 with the grammar (once a week), and spelling continued as above. 
 In the first half of the tenth grade the work will be literature 
 (four times a week), composition based on the literature (once a 
 week), and spelling as above; in the second half of the tenth 
 grade the work will be rhetoric (four times a week), comjDOsition 
 in connection with the theory of rhetoric (once a week), and 
 spelling as before. Throughout the eleventh grade the work 
 Avill be literature in connection with the history of literature 
 (four times a week), composition based on the literature studied 
 (once a week), and spelling as in previous years. This plan for 
 the high school work in English seems to me to be an admirable 
 one, and ought to bring excellent results in securing the aims 
 which I have indicated in this paper. 
 
inilSif!.'!),^/ O^ CONGRESS 
 
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