Committee Goes After Men Misusing English on Exams

The average Chemistry major or concentrator in Government breathes a sigh of relief when he hands in his last English A theme, secure in the knowledge that he has bested the English language forever. Mols or Marx may still lie in wait for him, he thinks, but indefinite clauses and parallel phrasing are things of the past.

This exam period, as always, this attitude will be shattered for five or ten chronic misusers of English, who will be forced by the Committee on the Use of English by Students to mend their ways.

Faulty paragraphing or a brace of misspelled words on a final exam this week may bring the wrath of the committee down upon the head of some unsuspecting Social Relations man. Indeed, so broad are the powers of this little-publicized group that it can hold up a student's degree if it deems his use of English unsatisfactory.

Drastic Action Not Used

Such drastic action has never been found necessary, Theodore Morrison '23, director of English A and chairman of the committee explained yesterday. The usual procedure, he stated, is to refer misusers of English to the Bureau of Study Counsel for remedial work.

This may range from a half hour "pep talk" to years of non-credit English work, depending upon the student's particular difficulties. Offenders are nabbed at exam time when the committee sends graders and section men cards requesting the names of students whose English falls "below a standard . . . acceptable at Harvard."

"We get people from every department," Morrison said, though he noted that English concentrators are rarely reported. Psychological problems, he finds, are often at the root of language difficulties.

Overseers Alarmed

The Committee on the Use of English by Students was set up in 1914 when the Board of Overseers became alarmed at the low standard of English usage among College graduates. At present the committee has two members besides Morrison: Marland P. Billings '23, professor of Geology, and Albert J. Guerard, associate professor of English.

Morrison recalled that during the '30's the committee made a study of all the essays written for a History 1 mid-year exam. The best essay was selected along with the worst, and both were published for comparison in a pamphlet.

Newspapers all over the country seized upon the bad essay, ignored the good one altogether, and published editorials exposing "the way American college students write today."