November 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



659 



school he has read "literature." Litera- 

 ture, therefore, is, to his mind, like his 

 school reading, either dry, silly or incom- 

 prehensible. By the same token English 

 composition, the making of more literature, 

 is an art in which he sees no practical value. 

 For teachers, newspaper men and clergy- 

 men the thing may be well enough ; but it 

 requires a special gift of phrase-making 

 which he feels rather glad to acknowledge 

 that he lacks. 



The teacher who successfully combats 

 this prejudice has accomplished a delicate 

 task in persuasion. He must work toward 

 this end along three lines : he must give the 

 incoherent and undeveloped mind respect 

 for its own productions; he must remove, 

 as far as may be, the embarrassment of his 

 own too critical presence; and, finally, he 

 must attempt to show, as no rules of Eng- 

 lish composition derived from the study of 

 models of literature ever can show, a ra- 

 tional aim in writing and an easily attain- 

 able attitude of mind which will lead to 

 success. This is essentially the problem of 

 teaching English composition at the Insti- 

 tute of Technology. 



In attempting to solve this problem it is 

 essential, above all things and at the very 

 start, to give the student respect for his new 

 attitude as author and, at least in prospect, 

 for his new product. With this aim in 

 view the student is at the outset usually 

 requested to select his own subjects for 

 written work. His attention is called to 

 the fact that success can come only with 

 topics which he cares aboiat and Imows. At 

 the beginning of the first term, and again 

 later, as need arises, he hands in a short list 

 of subjects on which he prefers to write. 

 These are tested, in the first instance, only 

 as to the degree of knowledge and personal 

 interest behind them. In a large school 

 like the institute, which draws its students 

 from all parts of the world, and in some 

 cases from men of business and professional 



experience, the subjects present consider- 

 able range and some novelty. There is 

 first the immature school boy, graduated 

 from a neighboring high school, who has 

 seldom left his native town. He has his 

 favorite sports to tell of, hunting and fij5h- 

 ing trips, perhaps an occasional criticism 

 of high-school methods or of institute life. 

 Beside him is the student who has traveled 

 or lived abroad, or in distant parts of the 

 United States, and is full of information 

 as to unfamiliar methods of life and work. 

 Finally comes the young man of. profes- 

 sional experience, who is ready and glad, 

 if he can find an instructor or a fellow 

 student well enough informed to follow 

 him, to expound deep matters, like the 

 theory of injectors, or fire-proof electric 

 wiring. Common to all these writers, and 

 more promising than other subjects, are 

 those which relate to business methods or 

 manufacturing processes engaged in or ob- 

 served— "The Duties of a Stage Hand," 

 ' ' The "Working of a Small Steamer, " " Sur- 

 veying with a Party in Pennsylvania." 

 Of the students I have met in the last five 

 years, only about two per cent, failed to 

 respond to this method and declared them- 

 selves utterly devoid of ideas ; the rest were 

 rather easily supplied with congenial sub- 

 jects, and started on work which from the 

 beginning they could take seriously. It at 

 once presented itself to the mind as worthy 

 of respect, because entirely within the lim- 

 its of their powers of expression, and likely 

 to be valuable to the reader after it was 

 done. 



The subjects thus presented are, when 

 possible, neostyle-copied and handed about 

 the class. At all events it is essential that 

 the students should have access to the list. 

 This makes for the class work the hour of 

 promise — nature putting forth her power 

 "about the opening of the flower." The 

 most possible should be made of it. It re- 

 mains only to shield the actual product 



