The Study of the English Language

Abstract

Whether teachers of English or of Mathematics, I believe that we all desire, and make an earnest effort, to enable our pupils to understand the expressed thoughts of others, and to express their own thoughts in good form; and we all seek to give them some acquaintance with the best in our literature and some appreciation of it. But the realization of these results makes necessary not only the most skilfully devised schemes of operation, to be executed by skilled specialists, but also the correlation of all the other work of the schools so as to emphasize the importance of the English. Here, as in every other department, the individuality of the teacher is a most important factor. The teacher who loves good literature and reads good books, and talks with the pupils about these good books; whose language is always well considered and carefully selected, rarely displaying any agitation or emotion, expressed in wellmodulated and cultivated tones, with most careful enunciation and accurate pronunciation, of such a quality as to command and hold the fixed attention of all the pupils; whose manners furnish a constant display of ease, refinement, and culture-such a teacher, although giving instruction in history, will do much toward the attainment of the desired results in English. And in proportion as these qualities are lacking in a teacher, we may expect the pupil to be deficient in knowledge of, and in ability to use, good English. Those of us whose experience has been limited to the work of the secondary schools find some things which we think ought to be done differently, or better, in the elementary schools; and, I am sure, the college men can say the same of the secondary schools. Now, as we tell each other these things, and are honest in our work, better conditions must naturally follow.