CHAPTER II Civic topics for oral exposition. - Instead of miscellaneous topics for the oral exposition based on a printed source, or in addition thereto, a series may be presented covering the more practical phases of local and state government. The college provides in elective courses for advanced students a technical study of political science, but in few institutions is there any provision for imparting to all students the facts which any citizen should know about the city, county, and state in which he lives.1 Information acquired on a special assignment for oral report should if possible have intrinsic value for the student and for the class a very different thing from the passive "interest" which attaches to easy things. A list of topics in this field may be suggested as follows; local conditions will demand substitutions and alterations : TOPICS ON CITY AND STATE GOVERNMENT 1. Distribution of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Powers in the City Government (a general statement). 2. Powers and Duties of the Mayor. 3. Executive Departments or Bureaus of the City (division of duties). 4. The Work of the Police Department. 5. The Work of the Fire Department. 6. Building Laws of Importance to Citizens. 7. The Management of the Parks. 8. The Water Supply of the City. 9. The Sewerage System. 10. Street Paving and Repairs. 13. Street Lighting. 14. Powers of the Health Bureau. 15. Administration of the Public Schools. 16. What the City Debt Means. 1 A required senior course of this sort has been given at the University of Rochester for several years. 17. What we Pay Taxes For. 18. The Basis of Assessment of Real and Personal Property. 19. The City Council. 20. Division of Powers between City and County (a general statement). 21. City, County, and State Courts. 22. The Difference between Jails, Reform Schools, Penitentiaries, and State Prisons. 23. Charitable Work of City and County. 24. Principal Executive Departments of the State. 25. State Supervision of Education. 26. State Control of Highways. 27. State Control of Labor Conditions. 28. State Control of Forests. 29. Methods of Nomination and Election of City, County, and State Officials. 30. Federal Officials within the City or State: Post Office, Customs, Internal Revenue; Federal District and Circuit Courts. Necessary preparation for civic talks. In order to carry out successfully such a series of civic talks the necessary books must be collected and reserved by the instructor or the reference librarian. These will include the city charter and ordinances, the state constitution and certain chapters of state laws, reports of city and state officers and bureaus, and any special handbooks that may be available. A bibliographical list giving references by volume and page for each topic will be necessary, inasmuch as the class has not yet learned how to use reference books with proper economy of time. Subjects should be assigned to individuals, not left for random choice, in order to insure a presentation of the most important topics, if not the entire series, in class. The instructor will need to know enough about the subject matter involved to detect omissions and errors of fact as well as defects of form. If it be objected that this imposes upon teacher and class alike a considerable burden in the investigation of a subject apparently foreign to rhetoric, the reply is threefold: (1) that it has been the curse of rhetoric to be diverted from useful subject matter to a mere study of forms; (2) that the art of rhetoric, historically considered, is the art of the orator in dealing with public affairs; (3) that a little closer approach of college teachers as well as college students to the duties of citizenship I will do no harm. CHAPTER VI As a practical exercise in the principles of study and recitation explained in this chapter and the preceding one, the class may be asked to study a chapter on some subject of intrinsic value and prepare it for recitation. Excellent for this purpose are the two essays by Dr. Charles W. Eliot entitled Education for Efficiency, and The New Definition of the Cultivated Man (Riverside Educational Monographs). Other valuable educational essays by eminent teachers on topics well adapted for freshmen are to be found in The Freshman and His College, by Professor Francis Cummins Lockwood (D. C. Heath and Company). CHAPTER VII The directions for the use of a reference library are not intended merely to enable the student to collect material for his freshman essays. They are somewhat more detailed than would be necessary for such a purpose. It is rather the aim of this chapter to guide the student in acquiring a general familiarity with the tools of a large library, which will serve him during his college course. Teachers who do not regard library instruction as pertinent to the teaching of composition will of course omit the chapter, or at least the portions which deal with classification, periodical indexes, and other technical matters. There may be a few fortunate teachers whose freshman classes already know enough about a library to use it intelligently. Even in such cases, some hints in regard to the arrangement of the library of the particular institution will be necessary. Too much is usually taken for granted in this matter, and students hesi tate to display the extent of their ignorance by asking elementary questions. For that reason the chapter has been made explicit, to the point, as some may think, of diffuseness. Points which are obvious to the class can easily be passed over. The exercises are not intended to be given entire; selections from them may be assigned at intervals during the study of the subject. CHAPTER VIII During the period of two to three weeks in which the class is reading for the long essay and working on the outline, the class hours may well be used in studying specimens of exposition. The chapters by James and Fiske, reprinted in the appendix, may be analyzed and outlined. Students' essays of previous years may be read to the class, with commendation of their good points and criticism of their defects. The very fact that helpful suggestions of this sort must be based on specific examples brought before the class makes it difficult to deal adequately in a textbook with the organization of the material into the developed essay. Some teachers may wish to follow the long exposition based on reading by practice in the writing of short essays in the familiar style- on such topics as those of Addison, Lamb, and Stevenson, or, to use a modern instance, of Mr. S. M. Crothers. This sort of exposition is a welcome relief to students with a natural knack for writing, but the ordinary class will contain many who find it difficult or impossible. The author's opinion is that such writing belongs in elective courses, or in an honor section of a required course. A SUGGESTED LIST OF BOOKS REQUIRED FOR COLLATERAL READING IN CONNECTION WITH FRESHMAN RHETORIC 1. BRIGGS: College Life (Riverside Literature Series, Houghton Mifflin Company, 35 cents). 2. LINCOLN: Speeches and Letters (Everyman's Library, 35 cents). 3. PALMER: Self-Cultivation in English (Riverside Educational Monographs, Houghton Mifflin Company, 35 cents). 4. ELIOT: Education for Efficiency and the New Definition of the Cultivated Man (Riverside Educational Monographs, Houghton Mifflin Company, 35 cents). 5. LOCKWOOD: The Freshman and His College (D. C. Heath and Company, 80 cents. 6. The Bible: (1) The Book of Ruth. (2) The Reign of Saul: 1 Samuel, chapters 8-31; 2 Samuel, chapter 1. (3) The Reign of David: 2 Samuel, chapters 2-22. (4) The Life of Elijah: 1 Kings, chapters 17, 18, 19, 21; 2 Kings, chapters 1, 2. (5) The Teachings of Jesus (from the Sermon on the Mount to the arrival at Jerusalem, Luke 6:20-19:28). A SUGGESTED LIST OF BOOKS USEFUL IN COLLEGE COMPOSITION COURSES 1. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (unnecessary if the student has the New International or the new Standard Dictionary, unabridged, for use in his own room). 2. SANDWICK and BACON: The High School Word Book (quite as valuable for college freshmen as for high school students; excellent for correcting deficiencies in spelling and pronunciation, and for enlarging one's vocabulary). 3. KITTREDGE and FARLEY: Advanced English Grammar (a textbook of grammar for advanced students, useful for reference in matters of doubtful usage). 4. FERNALD English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions. 5. BARTLETT: Familiar Quotations. |