e National Council of Teachers of English have beore gravely concerned about the inadequacies of The Nation's schools. They believe that to rerious inadequacies only strong national leadffective. Ninety days ago the council pubI report of the status of English teachNational Interest and the Teaching of prepared primarily to provide data for States. Copies of this book-length study y report on the teaching of English as a seceen made available to members of the subcom

1 AKBOROUGH. Mr. Allen, do you have a copy of that with o not believe we have received that.

ALLEN. They were sent from my headquarters office about 3 s ago to the offices of the members of the subcommittee. I had yesterday. I left it inadevertently in a taxicab last night. Senator MORSE. We will check into that.

Mr. ALLEN. Yes, sir.

The distressing conditions revealed in these documents have been widely analyzed and discussed as indicating clearly the need for national action. The larger study has been concisely condensed in this six-page summary I have here. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I should like to place a copy of this summary in the record of your subcommittee hearings.

Senator MORSE. It will be inserted at this point.

(The summary referred to follows:)

THE NATIONAL INTEREST AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH-A SUMMARY

National Council of Teachers of English, Champaign, Ill.

THE NEED

Two of the three R's basic to American education are subsumed under the rubric we call English. Competence in English is essential to successful study of every other subject field and no less essential to success in most trades and professions. In addition, English encompasses much of our children's introduction to a cultivated understanding of themselves and other human beings, their grasp of lasting human values in an increasingly machine-dominated society.

From the kindergarten through the graduate school, English is less well taught than it should be or can be. There is now grave danger of further deterioration because of too few teachers, too many poorly prepared teachers, ever more crowded classrooms, lack of books and other facilities, and inadequate systematized research. The very existence of our society depends upon an informed and literate public, upon citizens who can evaluate what they read and hear, citizens who can think straight and express their convictions clearly and effectively, citizens who can distinguish between the tawdry and the worthwhile Yet our schools allow English, which should make a major contribution to the education of such citizens, to be taught by many ill-prepared teachers, and all too often expect them to work under handicaps—such as a 60-hour week— that would be regarded as intolerable in any other occupation.

Leadership in English teaching is asserting itself in many ways, but lacks both the coordination and the funds necessary to make the massive attack on the definition of the subject, the preparation of its teachers, and the articulation of English in its course sequence in the whole school system. English was largely ignored in the 1958 version of the National Defense Education Act. Several foundations have been helpful in the performance of certain specific tasks. But it seems impossible to correct the basic weaknesses in English in

Mr. BENT. I want to repeat: I am not sur but it is a very important trend downward.

Senator YARBOROUGH. I know, Doctor, a evidence in the National Defense Educatio we heard from only one school of engine been a very small drop up to 1958 in the teachers of engineering in the country. P branches of teaching. But since you we program, I thought you would probal, witness on this point.

Senator MORSE. Senator Yarboroug
the number of teachers has not decrea
What this really means is that- a
petency with its limitations, but a
sending more and more graduate-:
and more teachers that have less
had 10 years ago.

That does not speak well for t
we do not stop it.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Doctor,
things: One, the smaller numb
proportion in regard to the to
their doctorates?

And do you not have a dra.
industry that you did not ha
of such persons as professor-
of psychology for their per-
industry did not use 15 year

Mr. BENT. This is very
ernment and industry are
faculties.

Senator YARBOROUGH. 'I
Senator MORSE, Senato
Senator CASE. No ques
Senator PELL. No ques
Senator MORSE. Than
Mr. BENT. Thank you.
Senator MORSE. Our 1
president, National Coun
to have you with us, Prote

way.

STATEMENT OF PROF.

Mr. ALLEN. Thank you, My name is Harold B. University of Minnesota.

In appearing today befo Committee on Labor and 1 Council of Teachers of Engl. cil, with more than 65,000 members and subscribers Teachers organization in

+

of their students, stress literature and functional teaching of grammar, follow ler careful supervision, make special profed, and have adequate library facilities, s, and other instructional aids. It is an re too few.

major deficiencies in the English teaching

tors, and parents clearly understand that the in the study of language, literature, and ental nature of English is too seldom recognized 1 in English lack articulation from one level to achers of English tend to be poorly planned, sarily inconsistent with one another. teachers of English are deficient in knowledge of presenting it effectively.

, even though well prepared, are prevented from overloads, lack of supervision, poorly planned builder facilities.

Frch and experimental planning as they are pertinent nt, as are interpretation, coordination, and utilization perimentation have been done.

ers of English are available.

STEPS TOWARD A SOLUTION

dish is to be improved throughout the United States, st be undertaken nationally. Only large-scale programs nal appropriations or massive coordinated programs at educational foundations seem capable of offering to manities such stimulation and assistance as the sciences, gn languages received from the National Science FoundaDefense Education Act of 1958.

sing the teaching of English upon the study of language, sition, the following action is recommended:

ent of national institute programs for elementary and Lers to provide training in the essential content and methods

to enable college scholars to devote part of their time to ly with elementary and secondary teachers;

ragement of year-long seminars to help practicing teachers apclassrooms knowledge that they have acquired at summer

>teachers to the developmental and sequential nature of English ge articulation throughout the school years, the following steps

ecial study of the problems of articulation in all institutes and all ces;

A substantial increase in the number of qualified State and local sory personnel in English;

Establishment of regional centers for study and demonstration of itial, articulated programs in English.

upgrade existing collegiate programs for preparing English teachers, the major recommended actions:

a) Support of special conferences for college and university teachers O work with prospective elementary teachers and with prospective secdary English teachers;

(b) Dissemination of information about especially successful current or new "pilot" programs of preparation;

(c) Support of special institutes for graduates of small colleges which are unable to provide specifically needed instruction in linguistics, composition, literature, the psychology of learning English, or other special work.

struction under existing administrative organization, isolated authorities, and small town school referendums.

English is taught, sometimes well, sometimes poorly, from the first grade to the last. But one-fourth of all elementary teachers are not college graduates and hence are often noticeably deficient in knowledge of the English language and the literature-including children's literature-written in that language. Each year the demand for additional high school English teachers outruns the supply of qualified applicants by a ratio of 4 to 3. About half of currently employed high school English teachers do not have a college major in English. Over half of today's high school graduates go on to college, but there they find a steadily increasing shortage of well-prepared instructors, especially in English language and composition.

The kind of preparation needed for competent teaching of English in the ele mentary school and secondary school is well known. But considerably fewer than half of the teachers now employed have that preparation. It is possible to be certified to teach in elementary schools in 19 States without any specified requirement in English; in 21 States an elementary teacher need meet no definite requirements in reading, children's literature, or methods of teaching the subject. On the secondary level, as a national median, a teacher can be certificated to teach English if he has had only two semester courses in beginning composition plus three or four semester courses chosen from such diverse fields as English and American literature, journalism, speech, dramatics, or children's literature-a median minimum requirement of only 16 to 18 semester hours of college credit. In 16 States the situation is even worse: a teacher is supposedly qualified to teach the huge subject called English if he had had in college 12 semester hours in English (or in related fields).

Still other deficiencies exist in the preparation required of English teachers. More than 94 percent of the colleges that prepare elementary teachers do not require a systematized study of the history and structure of the English language. Over 61 percent do not require a course in grammar and usage. For the preparation of high school English teachers, 59 percent do not stipulate a course in advanced composition, and fewer than 200 out of more than 1,200 colleges in the entire country graduate teachers who have been informed about the important advances in English language study made in the last 25 years. In a world in which understanding of other peoples acquires ever-increasing significance, only a third of the colleges that prepare English teachers require work in world literature. Only a fifth require study of contemporary literature or of literary criticism.

Because of rapid growth of enrollments, teaching conditions in many localities are becoming worse rather than better. Many elementary classrooms are crowded to the windows, thus reducing the amount of teacher time each individual child can receive-time particularly important in development of skill in reading, writing, and speaking. High school teachers in many schools admittedly assign too few compositions, mainly because the careful weekly marking of a composition written by each of 150 or 175 students requires the teacher to spend 20 or 25 hours, in addition to the 25 or 30 hours spent in classroom instruction, preparation for other classes, and the time spent in other essential activities. Too many schools cannot provide an adequate supply of books: the average amount per pupil spent on library books is about half the cost of one book; States spend an average of only $2.71 per pupil for free textbooks. tually no tape recorders, record-players, projectors, and other modern aids useful in the effective teaching of language and literature are available in many schools. Supervision in many school systems is almost nonexistent; only a half dozen States have English specialists in their State departments of education, though specialists in such subjects as home economics or driver education (and now foreign languages) are almost always available.

Vir

Such deficiencies in the lower schools show up dramatically when high school graduates go on to college. Seventy percent of American colleges and universities find it necessary to offer remedial work in English; approximately 150,000 students failed college entrance tests in English in 1960.

Perhaps most grave of all, research in the teaching of English is haphazard and fails to deal with many basic problems. Dedicated individuals and organizations do perform much useful research, but it is uncoordinated and is accomplished on shoestring budgets.

One study has revealed that high schools which produce superior students of English tend to require 4 years of English, have lower than average English teacher loads, have teachers with strong undergraduate and graduate prepara