II

Tonal Problem

In this country more pupils spend more time more continuously throughout their entire schooling on the subject of English than on any other subject. Competence in English is almost universally acknowledged as basic to quality in education. Two of the three R's are included in the subject. Yet the teaching of English in this country is far less effective than it should be. Too many students are struggling to learn English under gravely inferior conditions-in crowded classrooms with inadequate books; from teachers ill-prepared and insufficiently helped; in schools unable to attract and to retain teachers with the vision and experience to develop strong English programs; sometimes with skills, especially in reading and writing, that have been insufficiently developed at earlier educational levels.

This report on the conditions under which English is at present taught in this country suggests the vigorous action needed to improve the teaching. Section I outlined a series of recommendations. This section explains why the need is national. Section III presents a comprehensive picture of the status of English teaching today. The reasons for a national effort to improve the teaching of English are both compelling and urgent.

1. The teaching of English plays a vital role in preserving human values in our technological society. Since most elementary and secondary

The humanistic values of English

school pupils in the United States meet a humanistic study only by their continuous and sequential study of English, the English teacher becomes for them the representative of the humanities. The importance of English-the language and its literature-lies in its hold upon the intellect and the emotions of man. The processes of becoming articulate and literate are central to man's attainment of full human dignity; literature helps man to understand his own nature and the nature of fellow human beings; literature reveals and clarifies reality, affording illuminationrugged, intellectually demanding and inspiring-of the ideas and experiences of man. The cultivation of literature not only gives man an access to the ideas and values of his culture and a consequent desire

to cherish and improve it but also stimulates his growth in understanding, sensitivity, and compassion. To be able to speak and write clearly about this illumination and understanding is to be an articulate, mature participant in what is most essentially human. When the 1960 White House Conference on Youth, in two separate recommendations, calls for greater emphasis on the humanities in the school curriculum,' there is only one possible answer: a revitalization and rededication in its role of preserving and transmitting the humanistic tradition.

The young who study our language and literature come into the best contact possible with the dreams, hopes, and aspirations, as well as with the roots of our culture. The rich texture of myth and folklore of lumbering, pioneering, and railroading stimulates the imagination and is a vehicle for the perpetual transmission of the American heritage. Only through the imagination do the complex natures of our various regions-Down East, the Old South, the prairie, the corn belt, and the mining town-become ingrained in our rising generations. Many of the books our youth read suggest the richness which we define as our heritage-Our Town, Huckleberry Finn, "The Devil and Daniel Webster," "The Death of the Hired Man,” Abe Lincoln in Illinois, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick. These stories are founded upon an older and wider tradition, but one still ours-David Copperfield, "The Ancient Mariner," "The Deserted Village," "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard," Robinson Crusoe, Macbeth. And this literature depends upon and blends with an even older tradition-the temptations of Faust, the mystic Bluebird, the penetrating humor of Don Quixote, the wanderings of Ulysses, the heroic figures of Greek and Roman myth, the just and overseeing God of the Bible. The base of the heritage is as broad as the humanistic tradition.

2. Our democratic institutions depend upon intelligent, informed communication, which in turn depends upon the training of all persons to think critically and imaginatively, to express themselves clearly, and to read with understanding. Man's ability to communicate information, feelings, and values distinguishes him as human. The success with which he leads his life depends upon his ability to conduct his personal affairs effectively with other people, to contribute sensibly to community life, and to share the experience of others-men of the past and of distant places, as well as of contemporaries. Every man's ability to achieve a satisfying personal life and to share in the responsibilities and opportunities of

The social value of English

Recommendations 138 and 139 (Forums V, XI, and XII), Conference Proceedings, Golden Anniversary White House Conference on Children and Youth (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 333.

society depends upon his ability to read, write, and speak well his mother tongue.

Buffeted by the problems of our twentieth century democracy-complex organization, sudden technological changes, the passionate pressure of self-seeking groups, conflicting ideologies, uncertainty about the future, baffling international problems-modern man must cope with his work, make wise choices, and respond to the exacting demands of intelligent citizenship. His success will depend in no small measure not only on his ability to think, to read, and to express his ideas clearly, but also on his acquiring perspective by acquaintance with the best that has been known and thought in the past.

Young people living in the twentieth century are studying new attitudes toward space and time, new concepts about the nature of the universe-ideas which raise profound questions about the role of man in his world and about man's philosophical and spiritual views. Problems of this kind are becoming a major concern in the lives of many people and reveal a need for much reading and study about the role of man in this world.

In our world, too, where East meets West in almost daily encounter, when travelers and businessmen represent our culture and our values no less than do our statesmen and military personnel-in a world in which the profile of the "Ugly American" is all too vividly etched-it is important that Americans everywhere fully understand their heritage and see themselves not only as bearers of aid, technology, and materialism but also of ideas, of human dignity and freedom-ideas articulated with such vision by Jefferson, Lincoln, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitmanideas derived in the tradition of the French democrats and the Magna Carta, through the writings of Milton and Schiller and Sophocles, influenced by the philosophy of Locke and Dante and Aristotle. The encounter between the East and West need not be a clash of spiritual and material views but can result in a mutual exchange of spiritual and cultural values. If all Americans are to become ambassadors, all must educate themselves deeply in their own and the world's literature.

3. Competence in using English is essential in every subject. Unless English is taught well, every subject suffers. Because language is the

Learning depends

vehicle for ideas, command of language is important in every subject. The task of educating students to language is the special responsibility of the English teacher, but his success or failure ultimately affects instruction in all other subjects. "Without the ability to read accurately and to write clear, coherent prose, no engineer, scientist, architect, or

on language

business executive can achieve distinction in his profession," states J. C. Warner, president of Carnegie Institute of Technology.

A recent survey of leaders in American business, government, law, and communications clearly reveals their firm belief in the paramount importance of English studies. Typical of the comments is the reaction from W. W. Watson, chairman of the physics department, Yale University, who believes English to be "the most important subject in the entire course of study in the elementary and college preparatory years" or that of John F. Latimer, professor of classics and assistant dean of faculties, the George Washington University, who asserts, "We must learn that English is the mother and father of all disciplines for us and for all who speak English as a native tongue." English is a bedrock subject. Knowledge and skill in English are basic to the attainment of excellence, whether in regular schools and college programs, in graduate or professional study, or in professional service.

The extent to which advanced students are hampered by their inadequate command of English was recently summoned to attention in a national survey of graduate education in the United States. In 1959 the American Bar Association devoted a special section of its annual meeting to considering the problem of language deficiency. A year earlier the Educational Policies Committee of the Association of Graduate Schools proposed a graduate entrance examination to include English composition.

The careless writing in American professional journals often impedes communication between writer and reader. (Compare, for example, the literary quality of the British medical journal, Lancet, with that of any comparable publication in this country.) A recent survey of leaders of the business world suggests that inferiority in the use of the language is reaching national proportions and threatens to debase our business. and professional life."

4. English is taught more extensively to more pupils than is any other subject. The prevalence of English instruction in education is graphically demonstrated by the enrollment of 92.9 per cent of all pupils in our high schools in English, as compared to 68 per cent enrolled in

Joseph Mersand, Attitudes Toward English (Philadelphia: Chilton Press, 1961). All quotations in this section are taken from this survey of the attitudes of national leaders.

'Bernard Berelson, Graduate Education in the United States (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960), pp. 247-248.

'Mersand, op. cit.

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The

enormous

teaching problem

the social sciences, 55 per cent in mathematics, and 25 per cent in foreign languages. High schools throughout the country require an average of 3.6 to 3.8 years of English, and the trend to require a full four years is increasing. (No other requirement is so extensive; the study of history and social studies is second with 2.2 to 2.5 years required.) More than 15 per cent of all secondary teachers teach English, compared with 12.9 per cent in mathematics, 12.6 per cent in science, and 11.7 per cent in history and the social studies.' The difference does not result from

personal choice. Most school programs require children to take English from the first grade to the last, and it is no accident that James B. Conant, in his recent surveys of American high schools, calls strongly, as a first requirement, for four years of English. Virtually all of the 42 millions of students now enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools are studying English under the supervision of more than 900,000 teachers; thousands of others are studying English in independent schools, in colleges, and in universities. Because practically all pupils at all educational levels study English, every change in the nature or size of the school population inevitably affects the teaching of English for better

or worse.

Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, United States Office of Education (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1951), pp. 107 ff.

Research Bulletin, National Education Association, Vol. 37, No. 4 (December, 1959), pp.

121-125.

"Teacher Supply and Demand in Public Schools, 1960, Research Division, National Education Association, April, 1960, p. 10.

James B. Conant, The American School Today (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1958), p. 47, and James B. Conant, Recommendations for Education in the Junior High School Years (Princeton, N. J.: Educational Testing Service, 1960), p. 16.