DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 95 



and for the other siii)port wliich seem to indicate. a ])urpose of standing 

 heliind the depadment and enabling it to carry out its plans. 



Relation to Other Deparlmenls of the Institution. — I am glad to 

 report that the olher de|)ar(nients of Ihe college have niaiiifesled a 

 spirit of co-operation for which the T>epariment of English is very 

 grateful and which is essential to ils success. In a large and a very 

 true sense it can he said that composition is not a separate subject, 

 to be separately taught. Composition is but the expression (both oral 

 and written) of the student's thought on all subjects, A recitation in 

 chemistry, a paper in botany, a report in farm crops — all of these are 

 exercises in comjiosition. Ceriaiu fundamental ideas and many de- 

 tails can be given by Ihe English department, but in s])ite of the thou- 

 sands of themes read by that department, by far the greater part of 

 the student's work in composition is actually done in other departments. 

 Unless the student be held to accountability on his oral and written 

 composition in these departments, the poorly ])rey)ared student, the 

 student of moderate ability and the indifferent student Avill make but 

 little real improvement. The agricultural freshman spends two hours 

 ])er week with his English teacher. Two hours per week is about one- 

 fiftieth of his waking time. If the time spent in j)reparation equal that 

 spent in the class room he may be said to spend one-twenty-flfth of his 

 time on English. Now if the indifferent studeut be held to account for 

 his manner of expression only wdien he is working for his English 

 teacher, there is little hope for him. His manner of expression during 

 twenty-four twenty-fifths of his time will overcome that of the remain- 

 ing twentv-fifth. That is one reason whv it must be recognized that 

 the student should be required to cultivate good methods of expression, 

 both oral and written, in every class. 



Furthermore, it must be remembered that, with some exceptions, all 

 composition work for men is limited here to the freshman year. It 

 falls to other departments, then, not only to build upon, but even to 

 ])reserve what the English department has done. If he is held to no 

 accountability for his English, a student may write much worse as a 

 senior than he did as a freshman. If it is not to affect his grades or 

 even his reputation, why should he trouble himself to put in practice 

 what he has learned? In refeiTiug to this matter I am entirely sincere 

 in saying that the other departments have manifested some disposition 

 to recog-nize these facts and to act upon them. For this all members of 

 the Department of English are devoutly thankful. 



I wish to say also that my predecessor has shown a generous interest 

 in the success of the department this year. I found the records in ad- 

 mirable condition, and Dr. Blaisdell S]>ent some time in going over with 

 me various features of the work. He has also throughout the year 

 shown a very friendly spirit of helpfulness, which I sincerely appre- 

 ciate. 



Very respectful I v submitted, 



W. W. JOHNSTON. 

 Professor of English and Modern Languages. 



East Lansing, Mich., June 30, 1913. 



