It would be surprising, if it had not come to be such a matter of course, to find the foremost college in the country offering instruction in such an elementary field as is covered by English A. That part of the course which deals with the history of English literature is, indeed, not out of place; but it is little less than absurd that freshmen at Harvard should have to be instructed in the first principles of composition, or, to put it with painful simplicity, should have to be taught to write even fairly well. And to write what? The absurdity is enhanced by the fact that it is their own native language, which they are so sadly unable to use. If it were French or German, the wonder would be less; but unfortunately it is nothing stranger than their mother tongue, with which they are familiar through years of reading and speaking, which baffles them when writing is to be done.

Many freshmen, especially those who are so happily advanced as to have fair command of written speech, are disposed to regard English A as an arbitrary infliction on the part of the heads of the department. Were these men aware of the many specimens of outrageous word structure (it is nothing more) furnished by the entrance examination papers, they would change their opinion. Under present conditions, English A must be regarded as a necessity, though a very disagreeable one, and somewhat shameful. At once, then, the question arises whether the conditions might not be changed; whether boys might not in some way be taught to write English before they come to college. Reform in this direction has been begun. The most effective way of hastening it would be by greatly stiffening the entrance examination and refusing to allow an entrance condition in English. Such measures are more extreme, however, than Harvard can afford. They would result in dwarfing the freshman class and sending crowds of disappointed candidates to other less severe colleges. But out of the question though this would be, we believe that the exertion of Harvard's strong influence, by a considerable increase in the severity of the entrance examination in English is demanded by the cause of reform. Beyond doubt it would be vastly to Harvard's own advantage in maintaining her character as an institution of higher education.