Terminal or Germinal

Abstract

HE terminal course is a bugaboo which is being seriously attacked by constructive thinkers, and I have no desire to divert attention from any effort that will contribute to its solution. The sooner we can determine exactly what should be taught to students who leave college at the end of their second year-not least of all in literature-the sooner we shall rid our minds of a host of academic torments. But there is another aspect of the phrase terminal course in that has haunted me for a number of years, an aspect usually not embraced by the academic connotation of the word terminal. I refer to the fact, attested by the attitudes of many students with whom I have spoken, that literature courses are frequently terminal in a lethal sense-they terminate an interest in literature in toto. Again and again I have heard college students declare that they do not like to read; that poetry is words, words, words; that, as far as they are concerned, they won't bite again, and that's that! As I see it, therefore, our major problem as teachers of literature is not so much one of terminal possibilities, for that, unfortunately, too often cares for itself. Rather it is one of germinal possibilities. What can we do during the few months our students are with us to kindle a lasting glow? What can we do to make literature a continuous, vital necessity in the lives of men and women after they leave college, when the gadflies of assignments and examinations no longer sting them into a more or less willing attentiveness? In a word, what can we do to induce our students to become intelligent, lifelong readers, for that, surely, must be the end of our endeavors. This is not to say that the in-course materials of themselves are not valuable or are not worth the price the student pays. But in the lower-division courses, at least, most teachers will admit that the attitude engendered toward literature is far more important than immediate content, for on attitude depends the future function of literature in a student's life. No one can possibly believe that the literature which a student comes to know in one or two college courses exhausts its usefulness for him. It is almost axiomatic to remark that when we evaluate anything, difficulties or limitations assume importance only as we see their relationship