Packer Collegiate Institute - Pelican Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 74 text:

56 The Packer Collegiate Institute The library method with reference Work is used, and note-books and essays receive care- ful criticism in frequent personal interviews, ln the Third Academic grade, the rhetor- ical work consists of a study of the narrative, with special drill on sentence-structure and punctuation. A study of description and letter-Writing follows in the Second grade, with drill on diction and simple prosody. In the First Academic grade, a semester of work in elementary rhetoric, with emphasis upon the paragraph, is required. The lit- erature for the Third grade consists of se- lections from mediaeval material-Malory, Tennyson, St. Francis of Assisi, Scott, the ballads of the people-and also The Mer- ehaiit W' Venice. T ln the Second grade, the literature read illustrates both prose and poetry and presents the idea of historical change, it includes a play by Shakespeare, Comiis, selections from Palgrave's Golden Treasury, Pilgrim's Progress, The Sir Roger a'e Cofverley Papers, and A Tale qv Two Cities. The literature of the First grade is deter- mined largely by college requirements for general reading.

Page 73 text:

I The Packer Collegiate Institute 55 cilines uf itunp, p 615132 languages. i ENGLISH.ik- The Institute puts the study of English before all else, believing that training in the mother tongue is better than any other educational influence. The English course of the Institute begins with the ele- mentary lessons of the Primary school, and is continued to the end of the Senior year. From the first it aims to stimulate originality, to develop the observation of the student, to help her in expressing her thoughts in fitting language, and to cultivate in her a taste for intelligent reading. I When a student is not pursuing any of the specialcourses in rhetoric and literature which are offered at the Institute, she is re- quired each year afterher entrance into the Preparatory Department to Write six essays, and to attend, Weekly, two lessons devoted to the principles and practiceof English composition and the appreciative reading of literature. ' 'iSpecia1 courses in grammar, rhetoric, and literature m-QV be noted OH schedules of studies, pages 45-54, 83, 88.

Page 75 text:

The Packer Collegiate Imiifufe a 57 In the lowest grade of the Collegiate de- partment, the Work in English composition consists of exercises in the use of the library, the keeping of a tabulated note-book, some literary criticism, and drill on the Word and the sentence. The Work in literature, a re- quired course, is the history of English lit- erature from its sources through the age of Pope, with special study of Beewuf and se- lections from Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, and Pope. The students preparing for college do not take the regular Work of this grade, but are prepared in a special class to meet the col- lege requirements. In the Second Collegiate grade, a course in advanced rhetoric is required, illustrated by selections from modern prose, and an elective course, in literature is oH ered, treat- ing of the Romantic movement from Thom- son to Keats. it ' The rhetorical Work for the Senior year comprises a study of the essay as a form of lighter literature, and Writing based on thiS study and on current topics. Two elective coprses in literature are given: one, a study