MILITARY ENGLISH

To most of the plans and practices of the Faculty we are prepared to submit without question, recognizing their superior wisdom in matters connected with the academic life of the University. But it is always well to bear in mind that "the best will sometimes fail" and the judgment of our superiors is by no means to be accepted in every case as infallible.

Hitherto the continued maintenance of a course such as English A has been justified as a measure of social prevention, so to speak. Slightly altering the words of the founders of Harvard College, we may say that our academic forebears instituted this course, "dreading to leave an illiterate body of undergraduates to the college, when our present scholars shall lie in the dust." The purpose of English A, therefore, has heretofore been to insure among the undergraduates a fair knowledge and ability in the writing of English composition. In what conceivable way, then, is the value of this course to be enhanced by introducing compulsory training in "military" English? Is it by reading the literary masterpices in military science and tactics, and patterning our style of writing after theirs that we are to obtain the knowledge that will enable us to express ourselves in clear, coherent, and elegent English? Or are we to believe that America has become so thoroughly infused with the spirit of militarism that the people cannot communicate their thoughts to one another save by the use of the terse and laconic expressions that form the working vocabulary of a commanding officer?

However, the Freshman class has selected an unfortunately thoughtless method of presenting their case, inasmuch as the petition printed in yesterday's CRIMSON was the first intimation which the Department of English received of any dissatisfaction. The better way would have been to call the attention of the Department to the matter before resorting to a petition. As in all such instances, the Faculty has a case which, not apparent at first, is of considerable import. The Department of English states that the purely military side of the work is only a fraction of the total requirement for the three and a half weeks period under discussion, and that it will not retard the primary study of the principles of English composition. We would suggest a conference between the distressed members of the class and the Department, in order that each may understand the other and a satisfactory understanding be reached.