I inc
on in Poetry,
-but They Know What They Like
This article is a report of the re-
sults of a study, made by Mr H. J.
Brevis and myself, of 90 papers, writ-'
ten by university seniors, all prospect-
ive teachers of English, in a test to
measure discrimination in ability to
judge poetry. It is not pretended that
the group tested was large enough to
indicate the average ability of all uzi-
versity seniors. Being comnposed of'
prospective teachers of English, how-
ever, who may be supposed to have a -
taied some sort of mastery of Eng-
lish poetry, it may at least be consid-
ered as representative. Few words
(which arehweak) will be used in in-j
terpreting the results; the reader may!
draw his own conclusions as to the
attaiumnt of university seniors in a
literary way, and as to the general!
excellence in high schools of the*
teaching of English poetry at least.
Misconceptions as to the nature of j
the tests -should first be removed. The
tests are in reality not .designed to
measure the ability to discriminate be-
tween varying degrees of excellence
in poetry, but rather to measure th~eI
ability to discriminate between good
of the exa
teachers of
good poetr
0
.4;
0
5
7
.8
9
10
12
ANDREW J. REENIAood arithmetician, by multiply-
Ang the figures in the "Total" column
by the corresponding number of er-
mination of 90 prospective It is very pleasant to add that no rors, and adding the results, would
f English in ability to tell one missed thirteen out of the thir- arrivo at 547 as the total number of-
y from bad. j teen, or even twelve out of the thir- , errors made by the 90 P. T. O. E. as
teen, thus showing that . the law of a whole out of a:possible 1170 (90x13),
TNumber of Erchance is at least in partial operation. In other words; this group of P. T. O
Teachers of English fak. It will be noted that less than 25 E..scored 46.7 per cent wrong and 54.3
ing Said ?Number of Errors;
per cent of the P. T. O. E. made four per cent right. Kindly refer to the
errors or less, leaving 75 per cent of paragraph marked with the asterisk.
the P. T. O. .E. who made dive errors Prominent among the perversions,
or more. of the original poems were sentiment-
I wish to digress a moment to say alized versions, in which the emotional
E that one of the finest things about the tone was falsified, and "silly, gushy,
2 1 3 3.3 !University of Michigan is the system affected, or otherwise insincere feel-
0 1 1.1 of grading according to class aver- ings" introduced. If any readers still
-ages. Using this system for a distri- remain unconvinced as to the general
3 0 bution of grades, the 7.7 per cent P. excellence of the P., T. O. E., they are
4 2 6 - 6.6 T'. 0. E. making two errors or less requested to examine the following
4 4 8 8.8 1 would receive A's, the 26.5 per cent P. data closely. It will be necessary,
7 3 10 11.1 T. O.-E. missing three, four, or five,. however, to quote a selection or two
12 9 21 29.3 I wonu d receive B's, the 49.9 per cent before giving the results. The stanza
P. T. O. E. missing only six, seven,.or ;below is an original from Amy Low-
6 5 11 12.2 eight out of the thirteen would re- ell's "Sea Shell." It should scarcely
11 2 13 14.4 ceive C's, while-the remaining 15.5 per be necessary to call attention to its
7 2 9 10.0 cent P. T. 0. E., missing nine, ten, or ! imagery, music, and beauty: :
1 2 3 3.3 eleven of the thirteen, would be flunk- i "Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
1 1 2 2.2 -ed. l (Continued on Page -ight)
By N. B.
The liveliest thing in THE DIAL
for May is D. H. Lawrence's review
of Stuart P. Sher-man's "Americans."
It rambles along like this: "He smites
the marauding Mr. Mencken with a
velvet glove, and pierces the obsti-
nate Mr. Moore with a reproachfull
look. Both gentlemen of course, will
purr and feel flattered. That's how:
Professor Sherman treats his ene-
mies: buns to his grizzlies. Wells
Professor- Sherman, being a profes-
sor, has got to be nice to everybody
about everybody. What else does a
professor sit in a.chair of English
for, except to dole out sweets.."
Henry James, his mind, his life, and
his environment, are placed under the
,ncroscope in the first of a series of
essays by Van Wyck Brooks. The
discoveries are fascinating. In an-
other paper, Francis Birrell attempts
by means of long passages of French
quotations. interspersed with English
to show that MarcelProust is "The
Prophet of Despair." The only story
in the volume aside from Hauptmann's.
"Heretic of Soana" is "A Married
Man's Story" by Katherine Mansfield.
THE FREEMAN, -May 16. "Edu-
cation, as it exists, at present, is sub-"
servient to Church or State or both,
and theref-ore-aiums at producing cred-
ulity and servility-the two qualities
upon. which :those institutions floor-
is.The .fact, that children usually,;
continue-through life to hold the re-
*igious opinions of their parents shows
what a powerful force education is."'
And-again: "Of all the requisites for
the regeneration of our society, the
rinravof esi~fn am tn oAt
when he hears about the Dean of Stu-
dents, and if we venture to -show of-RW
fense he is still more convulsed by
our naivete. In the foreign universi- Nothing like it to take the press out of clot]
damp days can -make al new suit look old unles
ties the students are absolutely free! the best of car of it. When your clothes lose
to conduct themselves as they see fit; of-the-band-box" look call'Dettling and let him
and the ,strange thing is that they new life.
do much better than our women with
their Dean of Women, and our men
with their Dean of Students super-
vising them. And this spirit of super- D E T T L I N G
vision permeates even our graduate
schools. A man taking a Master's de- "The Faultless Tailor"
gree must follow ka pretty definite .
course of study-his course must be 1121 S. University
"approved" before he- is considered
a candidate for the degree; and then
the only requirement on his part ism°
that he "pass" the courses with at IlII i 1lIIli IfilllUIIIIIIIIIIllIIIIIllhlII' llhIIIIIIIlIli
least a "B" grade in each. - A high
class moron might well do this, and.
thereby be eligible for one of our high-
er degrees. But the matter is still
more pertinent with regard .to .our
Ph.D. candidates. They must satisfy A n O U-
certain class-work requirements, must
choose a subject in accordance with
the judgment of a committee; and,
further, in the thesis, the -candidates
'must be careful to satisfy :the sopin-Thfi asp i
ions of the respective members of the and en-vcTens
committee. The Ph. candidate is
expected to create and to show orig-
inality; yet, everything imaginable is
done to prohibit both creation a-ndl Comed
originality. The result is logical: fewu
Ph.D. theses are.. worth reading.
In our universities we have the me- ' U
chanistic side with its memory sysD
tems and its discipline of the former
days and its present day abuse and
disregard of interest and initiative. -
poetry and bad. There are two-series
of tests (X :and Y), composed of thir-
teen sets each, each set comprising
four stanzas, one an original poem ot-
undoubted excellence, the remaining'
three definitely mutilated-versions. .tzV
every set the original poem has been
pronounced better:than 'its three mar-
iants, by a group of experts including
poets, literary editors, critics, and pro-
fessors of literature. The person test-
ed indicates his choice merely by writ-
ing "Best"- xdiove '=one ;stanza an each
see.
The tests are not difficult. All that
is required is a little concentration
and enough judgment to know a good
"pem'-from a -noor one.
* In a'series"of thirteen -sets o1 four
stanzas-.each, a .person going through
the booklet and picking out one "Best"
on each page without the exercise of
any discrimination whatever, -other
than mere guesswork, Would, b" thb
law of chance, presumably mark three
or four-f -the sets correctly. There
are in each-series well-konwn selec-
tions from famous poets, with which
any university- senior who is in -any
sense a student of literature should be
familiar.' In Series X, for instance,.
we have Leigh Hunt's "Jenny .KissedI
Me," and a stanza each from Tenny-
son's "Bugle Song," Shakespeare's;
"Dirge" (from "Cymbeline"), and
Masefield's "Sea Fever." Each of
these is found in the "Century Read-{
ings." In addition, there is in each
series a Mother Goose rhyme which is
so ridiculously easy for university
seniors that it might well be thrown
out altogether. Just how many errors:
a Wgospective teacher of English
should make in such a series is left for
the reader to judge.
One often hears it said that special-
ization should be deferred for post-i
graduate work. Students of Educa-
ti-on are-also .advised that it is their'
duty to teach the child, not the sub-
ject. Against such walls as these de-;
Bending our educational Jericho, m in
words are but a feeble squeak, but
the noise made by the table below:
(which pretends to be nothing more1
than a hint), should be sufficient-to
make them vibrate with some ampli-I
tude. The table presents the results,
«'liillfl11l1111111t11111!1!1111I HI !#liliN1i11111111111111t1111 tlUtlilllll lil llltl1hi1 11 t1#1# it!1#11fll l lll l1!#l tlllllltill '
--
That Gives an Impression of Good Taste
- As the time for "Finals" approaches and the last classes and
social functions conclude the year at Michgan thoughts turn
toward Vacation. Whether you are planning an :extended
- ~tour or merely the trip to your home you will want Luggage -
that carries with it an air of distinction and good taste and 9 4
yet at the sanme time is durable and moderately priced.
Stylish Trunks'
Perhaps you will need a steamer trunk for a --
- ~camping trip or- a- dress trunk that will hold ~ ',
- -- ~ a large quantity of clothing packed -fiat and s
= vyet again you may desire a convenient ward- f
= -. - N robe trunk that will carry your wardrobe with- -
- - - e ou wrinlin it! W e have- all, at the most -
= ~For the trip home and for the many week-end)
- trips that Vacation is sure to bring you will
want, a stylish bag. If! you wish to take a -ht
- . with you in add-ition to the one you .are wear- -
= sut Cses ing .you will want one of the patent leather
hat cases.
A suit case proves itself a
- firni friend for vacation trav- Bas$.0ad u
S eling-it holds a large quan- B-s$.0 n p
Stity of clothing and is not too
= large to be inconvenient. The Hatcase's $5.00 and up -
black patent leather cases --
- are priced from $6.00 up. -
1Mack's Third Floor
a- -
SIM
a _
9
4
decay of reLIIg n seems to me to cave With regard to the latter we mayadd
the best chance of being realized." Wthat some- grade schools are ysucceed-
These. are' some of the bright spots ta oegaeshosaesced
hese aeksomeofrthe rightssots -ing in making -an -organic application
-which mjake Bertrand Russell's con- of interest and intuition and initiative~
-cluding essay on "The 'Sources of -btiotees and ivitiesd aretat.e
ower" exceptionally interesting read- most wholly oblivious to suchfunc-
ing. -tions of education. The organic meth-
Other sp'endid artieles are: od would make use of interest and its
"France's Watch on the Rhine," "The attendant, curiosity, to make of edu-i
Letters of Fenimore Cooper," and an cation a culminative development
editorial discussion of "The American whereby individual capacity could be
Language" with especial emphasis on given free scope to discover and make
Mlr. Mencken's book cf that name. use of all truths that come within
THE NATION (May 16) Mr. Menck- grasp. Such was the method when
en has one hero at least and that masters and disciples learned togeth-
is Abe Lincoln. While he lets go of er, but it Is seemingly a hopeless ideal
vehement phrases as usual and does in our mass production factory sys-
not hesitate to call Lincoln's essay- tem of today. An example will trench-
writing style a "talent for writing the antly present the paradox of our mem-
sly, whimsical, puerile stuff that young ory aspect of education. Professors
college instructors manufacture by the of universities find it necessary to read
acre-sometimes, when the winds are their lectures both to classes and to
fair, getting a few cantos of it into public gatherings. This is usually!
the Atlantic Monthly," at the same done to insure accuracy' on the part
time he concludes that Lincoln "was of the lecturer and to make certain
above all else, an extremely shrewd, that he will not wander into any of
realistic, and competent man." - But the interesting bypaths of his sub
this is weak beside the praise which ject. The teacher, however, antici-
Mr. Mencken can give. Listen to the pates that his students will gather
following sentence from "A Book of notes accurately and be able to re-
Calumny": "Lincoln, had there been produce in substance all the material
no Civil War, might have survived as of his lecture. Behold the paradox:
the father of the American smutty The teacher supposedly well founded
story-the only original art form that in his subject is helpless without his
America has contributed to litera- paper; but the student, to whom the
ture." material comes for the most part as,
The most interesting material . in a confused and little understood mass,:
this week's "Nation," however, is in 1must understand without questioning
th ltt t th Editn t if t .!and mt mp rihh
.
It'll give you ronewe
attc those final exams.
YOU'LL FIND SATISFACTION
Bjesimer' s
W. Huro St.
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Sga.l.{U z c
E e e Lers Lo Lite v or peri nng o:;
the Jew in America. A letter from,
Paris, for instance, remarks that "The
typical Jew is -no baseball player in-I
born. The typical Jew's legs are not
long enough to permit him to dance
with the abandon of the late Vernon
Castle. And yet, ambitious, he insists
and persists."
THE 'FREEMAN (May 9): The chief}
articles this week are: Bertrand Rus-
sell's "The Sources of Power" (Eco-
nomic Power); "Robert Burns" by Ed-
win Muir; and "Ibsen and Economic
Justice" by Richard Claughton. In ad-
dition there is a clever little feature
story entitled "The Circus Comes to
Town." Probably very few students
on the campus are really reading Ber-
trand Russell's essay, but they are
by far the losers.
THE FREEMAN (May 9): The chief
articles -this week are: Bertrand Rus-'
sell's "The Sources of Power" (Eco-
nomic- Power); "Robert Burns" by
Edwin Muir; and "Ibsen and jEconom-
is Justice" by Richard Claughton.' In
J&ition th clever little featitre
"The Memorandum of William
Plumer," which was reviewed in
the last issue of The Sunday
Magazine, was edited by Profes-
sor Everett Brown of the politi-
cal science department. Mr.
Brown discovered part of the
E original in the Congressional Li-
brary at Washington while pre-
paring his doctor's .thesis in
ani 111us memurAae z ev11J 1 Au1s
does not understand. It would almost
seem that the student is expected to
sit as judge on the proceedings of the
professor and if an accurate record of
the proceedings is reported the pro-
fessor must be condemned, for his
student has gone beyond him-the
student has then gathered in a single'
lecture what the professor has assimi-
lated in-years -of study and research..
The consummation of this process
is seen in the logical and vicious out-
come as it affects even administrative"
officials. We are told that a very pro-
minent figure in the educational world
is to' be deposed soon, the chief rea-
son given being that he attempted to
fulfill his contract by administering
the affairs of the institution with the
aid of his colleagues. This man was-
evidently suffering under the delus-
ion that he was in some European in-
stitution, where the administrative
heads are appointed by their col-
leagues, who are experts in the field
of education, instead of in an Ameri-
can institution where he is supposed
Ito function merely as a figure-head.
Thus we find this mechanistic princi-
ole grinding into a vicious conformity
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