ENGINEERING ENGLISH

Among the problems which, though not entirely peculiar to the Engineering School, have yet assumed greater proportions there than in the College is that of inculcating a certain skill in the use of English in those students who have not acquired such an ability before entering college. The Engineering student, fully occupied with the rigorous requirements of his specialized training, has not the incidental opportunity to develop a clear and facile style in writing which literature courses, and written reports afford his classmate in the College. Moreover, while English A was far from a panacea for all difficulties, the abolition of the English. A requirement for those who pass the English college board with a mark of 70 per cent or better has complicated rather than solved the problem. Confronted by the danger of having its students receive no more training in English literature and composition than just enough to obtain a creditable grade in a college entrance examination the Engineering School has decided to make one more advanced English course obligatory for all those who escape English A.

This the Faculty admits, however, is but a temporary measure. At best it can serve only to alleviate and not to solve the difficulty. It has been suggested that special teachers in English take charge of each Engineering student, and continue to supervise his work until he has developed a reasonable skill in the handling of English.

Partaking as it does of the nature of a special tutorial system, such a plan would have many of the peculiar tutorial advantages. Personal contact, appreciation of individual difficulties, all the special attention which a tutor or a supervisor can give and which a large course of necessity fails to supply, are perhaps more needed in the teaching of English than anywhere else. The practical difficulties of the suggestion, inadequacy of instructors and scarcity of student time, could be met by having the instructor meet his charges at considerable intervals, watching their development rather than furnishing them with constant precepts, and by allowing the student a full course credit for the work thus done.

The amount of time required of both student and instructor would also be much reduced by the elimination of the superfluous effort connected with the workings of a large and regularly prescribed course. The student could concentrate on his own difficulties, and develop his own abilities. The instructor would be called on more for the exercise of rare judgment and a sparing wisdom rather than the drudgery of correcting masses of papers and handing out ready made precepts.