DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 51 



REPOllT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND MODERN 



LANGUAGES. 



To the President: 



The work of the Department of English and Modern Languages for the 

 year just closed has not differed materially from that of the year jjrevious. 

 My report for that year (1903-1904) was quite elaborate and detailed, and 

 I have deemed it sufficient, therefore, merely to refer to my former report 

 for information concerning the nature and extent of the work. 



The main point of difference lies in the steady increase in the registra- 

 tion of all the classes, necessitating a further sectioning of the German 

 classes and the English of the sophomore year. This division has, in turn, 

 compelled the employment of another teacher in place of the essay-reader 

 previously kept at work, and has also forced us to lessen the amount of 

 written work required of the student. The change has increased the ex- 

 pense of the department by about S200. The decrease of the written work 

 is, I am sure, something to be greatly deplored. 



With the increased enrollment in the classes in literature comes the ne- 

 cessity for duplicating and multiplying our resources for reference work 

 in the library. The work in these classes is carried on by inductive study 

 of the masterpieces of literature, with subsequent reference to standard 

 criticism for confirmation and correction of the conclusions independently 

 reached. It is not feasible to ask classes of fifty or more students to pre- 

 pare reference work from the single copy of an author accessible in the 

 library, and it rarely happens that a body of really valuable criticism suffi- 

 cient for distribution to such a class is available. 



To obviate the difficulty, I suggest that we begin to create a department 

 library consisting of an adequate number of copies of carefully chosen books 

 bearing upon the courses to be given. I respectfully recommend that the 

 sum of one hundred dollars be placed at my disposal for the purpose men- 

 tioned. 



The work of this department is distributed over the whole four years 

 of the courses in portions ranging from one hour to five hours per week 

 per term for each student. It is thus impossible, without a somewhat 

 elaborate system of records, to keep track of all details of each student's 

 progress. These records are in existence, but the department lacks ade- 

 quate and necessary conveniences for filing them. I respectful!}^ request 

 that the department be provided with a suitable filing cabinet, and that 

 it be given a part of the time of a clerk at stated intervals, for the jDurpose 

 of entering grades and remarks on the records mentioned. 



Respectfullv sulDmitted. 



HOWARD EDWARDS, 

 Professor of English and Modern Languages. 

 Agricultural College. Michigan, June 30, 1905. 



