ENGLISH DEPARTMENT INSISTS ON STRICT REQUIREMENTS

In answer to the complaint frequently made by members of the faculty that many undergraduates by gross mistakes of grammar and spelling in examination papers indicate either great carelessness or lack of knowledge of English, or both, the department of English at Dartmouth will endeavor, so far as possible, to remedy the condition according to the following statement read by Professor Lambuth, chairman of the department at a recent faculty meeting.

Because every college graduate ought to be able to express himself in writing, correctly, and with a reasonable lucidity and force;

Because other Departments have complained that students in their courses have often failed to write satisfactorily in quizzes, papers, and reports;

And because the obligation to teach the writing of a correct English rests primarily upon English 1 and 2:

The Department of English has determined to ensure—so far as is humanly possible—that no student shall pass English 1 and 2 without having proved his ability to express in writing both correctly and intelligibly, such ideas as he has. And in order to put this determination into effect, The Department of English has appointed a Supervising Committee to read the examination papers of all students in English 1 and 2 who have a grade of less than "C" for the semester, and to reject, as unfitted to pass, all students whose papers do not prove an ability to write a satisfactory English, no matter what their other attainments and state of knowledge may be.

Hitherto a few students have been allowed to pass English 1 and 2 without a satisfactory command of writing because they showed ability or industry in other portions of the work of the course. This will not hereafter be the case, and the Department will undertake to guarantee that all students passing English 2 will be, at the time of passing, able to write a satisfactory English.

Inasmuch as the writing of intelligible and grammatically correct sentences and the organizing of such sentences into an intelligible whole is an art which, once acquired, is not fo'rgotten or mislaid, provided its practice is insisted upon, the Department of English requests the co-operation of other Departments in requiring that all written work of all students who have passed English 2 be satisfactory as to correctness and intelligibility. The Department of English itself has adopted the policy of rigidly requiring such qualities in the regular fortnightly papers now required in its literature courses and in the semester theses. The occurrence of more than a minimum number of errors—a minimum sufficient merely to allow for human fallibility—automatically makes that paper an "E" paper, no matter what its value otherwise. The application of this rule has rather remarkably improved the quality of the written work submitted, proving in most cases that it was not inability but carelessness that was responsible for poor work.

The Department obviously makes no recommendation to other Departments, further than is implied in the assertion that if other Departments desire accurate and well organized writing, they can in most cases get it by refusing to accept any other kind.

If there are any students who seem genuinely unable to meet this requirement, they may be directed to composition courses already offered by the Department in which personal attention can always be given to individual, deficiencies.. Furthermore, any member of the Supervising Committee of the Department will be glad to be of any possible assistance in the matter by consulting at any time with any member of the faculty or with any student who needs assistance.

It may be of interest to state here that the Supervising Committee also reads and passes upon all examination papers of students reported by their instructors as failing the course. Thus failure in English 1 and 2 is not certified to the Registrar until it has been sanctioned by the Committee.