In Defense of English 72

(Ed. Note-The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters, but under special conditions, at the request of the writer, names will be withheld.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Legitimate criticism is appreciated by everyone, and is to be encouraged everywhere, but the braying of an ass is ever objectionable, and particularly so when it occurs outside of the barnyard. And it would seem that several asses have got loose in and about the college yard.

Last Friday Ass No. 1 was heard braying a pitiful complaint against the English 72 examination. "Woe is me, the naughty professor gave us an examination on outside reading and outside reading only. And the nasty man didn't even ask us anything about the lectures." Such was the tenor of the wailing of Ass No. 1. It is rather difficult to know just what this particular ass meant by "outside reading." A certain amount of reading was assigned to be done outside of the class and why one should consider any of this reading as more outside than the rest of it is somewhat of an enigma. Furthermore, if this particular creature had gone to the lectures, he would have found that at least three of the questions on the examination were covered in the lectures.

Ass No. 2 opened his mouth this morning. Says he, "the examination was obviously designed to test, not understanding of the reading, but whether one had done the reading." Far better would it have been if the mouth of Ass No. 2 had been so stuffed with hay that no noise could have issued thence, for he accomplished nothing more than the admission; that he is one of that small, but ever present group who pass examinations through an understanding of reading they have never done.

Ass No. 3 is he who is convinced that Professor Rollins does not understand the spirit and "essence" of poetry. When one has glanced through several of the volumes Professor Rollins had edited, this statement appears even more absurd and ridiculous than the later statement about "novels, chronology, and similar bricks and mortar of literature". Neither of these statements is any more worthy of serious comment than the "skillibooch . . . gmmk" of a baby-or the braying of an ass. Such noises speak for themselves-certain vibrations have issued forth from a cavity into the surrounding atmosphere causing a meaningless noise at which we must either laugh or hold our noses.

Three asses have brayed, and what have they accomplished? Nothing, except that smug feeling of satisfaction that every ass gets when he feels he has uttered something of surpassing sagacity; which feeling he communicates to the world by a certain lazy wagging of his aural appendages.

Concerning the examination. The examination followed along the lines of the majority of Harvard examinations. There was one question based entirely on the lectures. Two questions were on the reading alone. The remaining two questions were discussion of reading, which discussion offered ample opportunity for personal opinion, and it such opinion were lacking, it could have been supplied by the lectures. No minute detail was required. What examination could be more fair?

Concerning Professor Rollins. Professor Rollins is a typical Harvard man. He is a brilliant scholar, and has produced several books in which he has shown in addition to his rare scholarship, an unusual taste and appreciation for fine literature. He is a gentleman, a quality of which few of us boast nowadays. And he is an excellent teacher for those who have the ability and desire to learn.

The applause offered Professor Rollins at the end of his lecture today is indicative of the true feeling of Harvard men towards him.

The asses have brayed. Let them now return to the barnyard and all there is therein. Name withheld on request