SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1932. Volume 3. Number 5.

An Antique Syllabus (?)

An Antique Syllabus (?)

Dear "Smad,"—

Allow me to raise again in your columns that old bone of contention—that educationist's nightmare— the English course. I approach this subject with due respect for the intellect of the V.U.C. student, who is not afraid of mental effort when it is necessary ; and for the superior wisdom of those who, in some distant age, framed the syllabus in English.

For all this, I cannot help asking; "Why the need for such large and unpalatable doses of Anglo-Saxon?" Why this browsing over Old English texts, when we should be spending our precious time on lines of study, which, though urgently required, are completely ousted by these intruders?

For instance, there is the study of the literary period, where one is forced to limit one's knowledge to a mere skeleton of names and dates. There is the study of contemporary writers, which is completely ignored. There is, most important of all, the study of the students' own use of their mother-tongue, both in speaking and writing; a study which, again, is non-existent. All these would yield a more valuable return than studying the primitive language of a barbaric people.

After all, this purports to be a course in English, and if the authorities wish to cram it with Anglo-Saxon, why not honestly label it Anglo-Saxon, instead of inducing in new students false hopes of the subject? Then, perhaps, this old-fashioned University of ours, in an attempt to bring itself abreast of the times, might provide an English course designed to improve the English of its students.

I am, etc.,

" Duped."

[We feel that "Duped" should show a little more reverence for the picturesque, beautiful and euphonius language on which his mother-tongue is based; oh, yeah!—Ed."]