INTRODUCTION

THIS book has been compiled under the conviction that composition can be taught more effectively with ideas rather than with literary models or set exercises as the point of departure. That this conviction is opposed to some time-honored ideas of composition, the editors are fully aware. They are also aware that most teachers are agreed that the old methods of teaching composition are unsatisfactory; and it is the prevalence of this opinion which lends support to the belief that a book presenting a new method of handling the subject of composition ought not to be unwelcome, especially if the method has been tried successfully for some time at a representative university.

To many it must seem that one obvious reason for the failure of the older methods to accomplish the best results lies in the inadequacy of the material commonly employed in composition courses. This material usually consists of literary selections, which, for students of the age and training of the average freshman, generally fail to sustain interest; or it descends to trivialities, in overworking, frequently by the "daily theme" method, the small concerns of school or outside life.

In the belief that a new and more stimulating subject matter was desirable, the teachers at Columbia endeavored a few years ago to provide material which when used as a basis for composition would serve the purpose of not merely developing a formal accuracy in writing, but of expanding the student's ideas and increasing the number

of his points of contact with vital questions. In selecting more or less classic approaches to such provinces as biology, philosophy, modern politics, sociology, and practical religion, we relied upon the student's desire to know what fields of knowledge lie before him in his academic work, and we relied upon his natural curiosity in questions which, once presented, challenge him, as they challenge everybody, for answers. The only real problems were: first, to find material sufficiently simple and concrete in presentation to insure its fitness for this special period of intellectual development; and second, to make this material available in a single volume, as naturally the library facilities were overtaxed to provide a large number of students simultaneously with the required reading.

The result of the experiments with this subject matter at Columbia during the past two years has been an immediate and emphatic response to the stimulating interest of the questions taken up, once the students had adjusted themselves to the idea. There was scarcely an essay in the course which had not an appearance of forbidding profundity, or which did not seem to presuppose a more special knowledge of a particular field than the average freshman has mastered. But if the writing possessed sufficient irritancy to start speculation over the question presented, the initial objection to profundity disappeared and left the student convinced that his own common sense and reasoning powers were sufficient equipment for an approach to any of the subjects offered.

The selection of this series of essays as subject matter for a course in English composition does not necessarily restrict the essays to that use, as the cultural relations of the material are sufficiently broad to adapt it to many educational ends. The important fact is that in our mod

ern college curriculums adequate provision is seldom made for allowing the student's stock of ideas on vital questions an opportunity for better organization and greater expansion, or for orienting him in the field of collegiate studies. Possibly much of the diffuseness and ineffectiveness of the elective system may be traced to this very condition. It may not be the particular province of the English department to remedy these deficiencies, but it seems clear that since teachers of English are so frequently obliged to go hunting for subject matter, such an opportunity may profitably be accepted, particularly if it serve the purpose of accomplishing two important educational ends at once. With the general and commendable tendency to establish a definite coördination between the various subjects of undergraduate study, however, there can be little question that whether the "course in ideas" is given as philosophy, history, English, or as the growingly popular general culture course, in any event it has a place of profound value in the college curriculum, and is probably most beneficial when presented as one of the first steps in the student's work.

A device which experience has shown to be very successful has been followed all but uniformly throughout the present volume. Whenever a problem has been introduced about which "much may be said on both sides," two typical essays, representing the two points of view, have been offered. For this reason Arnold's Sweetness and Light, which upholds the traditional classical culture, is opposed to Huxley's Science and Culture, which defends the viewpoint of modern science. W. K. Clifford's Ethics of Belief, emphasizing scientific skepticism as a moral obligation, is followed by Professor James's Will to Believe, which justifies the acceptance without proof of religious beliefs. Huxley's Darwinian essay and Tyndall's Belfast Address, both of which at least suggest a

materialistic philosophy, are contrasted with Dr. Dole's Truth and Immortality, a reasoned argument for belief in a future life. The two essays on socialism and the two on the present position of women afford similar contrasts in treatment. Such a grouping of mutually opposed constructive ideas is of course emphatically more stimulating both to the imagination and the reason than the presentation of one side of questions which have been historically matters of dispute. In the case of such works, however, as Mr. Mallock's Scientific Bases of Optimism, a criticism of a typically modern philosophical position, and Sir Henry Sumner Maine's Prospects of Popular Government, a British analysis of the institution of democracy, the issues defined are academic rather than popular, and are presented with so much originality and force that they are probably sufficient in themselves to establish the high interest of the questions with which they deal, without the risk of cultivating prejudices.

Since this volume may represent a new and unfamiliar educational program to many, a word as to our method of handling these essays as materials for composition may not be out of order. In the first place, it has been our custom to use this reading for the second half of the freshman year, and to prepare the way for this term's work by composition. drill during the first term, by impromptu themes written in class and based upon assigned selections that give opportunity for an understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry. An effective method of approach in this first term lies in the use of historical memoirs, autobiography, books of the Bible, and literary works of historical flavor, for the purpose of establishing inductively some primary conceptions of social, political, and moral evolution. A variety of material of this sort will immediately suggest itself: for example, Homer, Sophocles, or Æschylus; Plutarch's Lives; the