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topics were, therefore, retrospective in treatment. refreshing thing about the remarks was their frankness. One boy maintained quite well his interpretation of the first topic, which he discussed according to the theme that so far as he was concerned, poetry need not exist at all.

Why poetry exists

Poetry worth reading
Poetry is not worth reading
The first poem I cared for
Poetry should be studied
Poetry should not be studied
Modern poetry

Free verse

The present interest in poetry

Great poems

Kinds of poetry

Poetry of nature, of action, of feeling
Attempts to write poetry

Some of the results of this group of topics are extremely interesting. Three boys recounted how they had met in early life The Lady of the Lake, The Children's Hour, and Hiawatha. The playmate of a girl had died just before she was taught Thanatopsis. Its lines comforted her at night. The sound of the words and the lulling effect of the rhythm rather than the words had first made a girl care for The Raven. Kipling and Service were most popular with the boys, but one girl paid high tribute to Kipling. One boy declared that The Charge of the Light Brigade had overcome his prejudice to verse. Even Chaucer was praised. One girl divided her early enthusiasm between Tennyson and Moore. One pupil singled out Tam O'Shanter, one Idylls of the King, one Crossing the Bar, one parts of In Memoriam, one Lucille, one The Ode on a Grecian Urn, and three the Iliad and the Odyssey. The best feature of all these speeches was that although they were on topics closely or remotely connected

with literature, pupils felt no necessity of saying what the instructor expected them to say. They had not recently studied these selections with him, he had not assigned them as material for study or review; pupils made their own free choices. Nor had there been a period of learning what some editor thought about the masterpieces. Pupils had been induced, perhaps forced, to do some thinking about their own reading, their own impressions, their own opinions. Judged from the level of adult intelligence many of the remarks were disappointingly obvious and trite, but they had the saving graces of genuineness and reasoning. The taste of seventeen is hardly likely to be the esthetic taste of forty. The pupil who praised Lucille could not be expected to know that it is a pet abomination of persons with taste; she did not convert her teacher, but she did impress him with the honesty of effort which made her speak so well. Judged by qualitative standards the remarks were not brilliant; judged by sympathetic interest as attainments and promises, they were enlightening and gratifying.

Have the English classes furnish speakers for the school. -No department of English should be satisfied with itself until it can furnish at short notice any number of boy and girl speakers to deliver to the student body messages, announcements, plans, proposals which emanate from either the pupils' actions or the principal's suggestions. Student rallies for championship games need not be prevailingly changes rung upon the two phrases of "put pep behind your team" and "get out there and root." Such trumped-up cameraderie from an auditorium stage should defeat its own purpose. When it comes from the lips of teacher or administrator it is recognized and appraised at once by pupils as a deliberate attempt to talk down to them. When it comes from lips of a pupil chosen to address them, they may not be able to analyze their feeling concerning it, they may not be

able to explain how it might have been done better, but let them hear the better specimen and they will recognize the difference instantly. Teachers of English will not be developing ability to speak unless they aid in reducing the one kind and in fostering the other.

Strive for coöperation within the department.—The preceding sentence suggests the strongest force in producing commendable speech-coöperation. In every English classroom, from the first term of high school until the last, every teacher should consistently strive for improvement. Other departments may help, but the problem is primarily that of the teachers of English. There is little improvement, however, if one teacher is insistent upon clear tones, correct pronunciations, complete sentences, connected discourse in recitations, while the next accepts an Indian grunt in answer to a question. Keeping even pace with the development in written composition and the familiarity with literature, should be carefully planned, progressively exacting provisions for training in speech.

Exercises.-See page 356.

CHAPTER XI

AUXILIARIES AND CORRELATIONS

Influence of the teacher outside the classroom.-The amount of time and energy spent by loyal teachers of English throughout the United States in supplementing the regular work of the classroom is simply incalculable. Primarily, of course, a teacher should be judged by his success in classroom instruction, but English topics are so frequently intangible and difficult of evaluation that countless examples may be cited of teachers whose classroom success depends upon influence or activity outside the room's four walls. Many an instructor has secured astonishing results in written composition because pupils have known that editors and publishers have been willing to purchase what he has written. Another instructor has induced a love of drama as a literary form because she could elucidate it from her observations of good plays in all parts of America and Europe. Another secures a devoted following in journalism because he has written good copy at high pressure.

Several universities have recognized this powerful influence aside from classroom instruction and have added to their personnel authors of assured distinction whose duties are undefined but whose opportunities are boundless. High schools can hardly hope to imitate this growing practice, but they can at least attempt to reduce the number of class periods required of those whose peculiar aptitudes and powers are utilized in extra-curricular activities. Many high schools assign five or six classes each day to the teacher of English and expect him to present several plays during a

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year. They add to the regular school day the oversight of a fortnightly school newspaper, which entails not only the planning that has to be done in odd times such as the long stretches of sleepless nights, but the reading and correcting of thousands of words of manuscript every week. The distribution and assignments of such extra duties are matters of management and administration. Teachers of English are so alive to the classroom reflection of this kind of participation that they willingly-frequently too willingly-assume responsibilities because of real and fancied opportunities. In systems where it is apparent or believed that advancement depends upon these outside aids, there is no difficulty in having them performed.

Providing extra time for classes.-The best aid to improvement in English is more attention to English. Many junior high schools in the first half of the seventh year prescribe ten periods a week. The only regret is that this allotment is not more nearly the regulation and that it is not followed in succeeding grades. Extra time may be secured if a foreign language is offered. Those who do not elect it may be given extra classes in English. This is not exactly an elective, but it does furnish opportunity for excellent instruction. The teachers of these sections should be allowed as much freedom as equipment makes possible, and given as much aid as intelligent supervision can secure in time, so that interesting experiments and productive devices may be inaugurated. Work in such classes may parallel the regular course, deepening it or enriching it, or it may strike off into untried paths and unread sections. Its progress and its results should be carefully preserved and discussed, for out of these should come improvements to be incorporated in the regular course of study. The lower grades with their flexibility and experimental status in departmentalization offer better chances for such additions than do the later