College Teaching Part 56

The type of _freehand lettering_ most generally taught is that used in practice; i.e., the single-stroke Gothic. The best commercial drafting-room practice suggests the use of the vertical capitals for t.i.tles and subt.i.tles, and the inclined, lower case letters and numerals for notes and dimensions.

The plan generally found to produce satisfactory results is to divide the letters and numerals of the alphabet into groups containing four or five letters and numerals on the basis of form and to concentrate the attention of the student on these, one group at a time. The simple forms are considered first, and enough practice is given to enable the student to proportion the letters and numerals and make the strokes in the proper order.

It is more natural to make inclined letters than vertical ones, and they are therefore easier to execute. If both vertical and inclined letters are taught, the instruction on the vertical should be given first, as it is more difficult to make vertical strokes after becoming accustomed to the inclined strokes.

_Freehand perspective sketching_ affords the most natural method of representing objects in outline. It is of particular value in interpreting orthographic drawing. The student who first draws a perspective sketch of an object becomes so familiar with every detail of it that he cannot fail to have a clearer mental image of its form when he attempts to draw its orthographic views. It gives a valuable training in coordinating the hand and eye in drawing freehand lines and estimating proportions. It also serves as an intermediate step between observing an object and drawing it orthographically.

_Freehand orthographic sketching_ is now quite commonly incorporated in modern courses in mechanical drawing. Such sketches serve as a preliminary step in the preparation of the mechanical drawing. They correspond to the sketches made by the engineer or draftsman for drafting-room or shop use. The experience of many instructors seems to indicate that the early introduction of freehand perspective and orthographic sketching in a course of mechanical drawing serves as a means of developing that skill in freehand execution which is so necessary in rendering the freehand features of a mechanical drawing.

When this type of skill is acquired before the mechanical work is started, the mechanical and freehand technique may be simultaneously developed.

The organization of an elementary course composed largely of a progressive series of working drawings necessitates the giving of considerable attention to the selection of problems involving the use of the above-named fundamentals to make the course increasingly difficult for the student. The drawing of views involves geometrical constructions and conventions, while the dimensions, notes, and t.i.tle invoke the making of arrowheads, letters, and numerals. In such an elementary course the student receives not only the training in the fundamentals, but also in their application in working drawings which furnish complete and accurate information in the desired form.

=Descriptive geometry=

The modern methods of teaching descriptive geometry apply the theory of the subject to applications in problems taken from engineering practice. The introduction of practical applications adds interest to the subject and makes the theory more easily understood. The number of applications should be as great as possible without interfering with the development of the theory. Such a treatment of descriptive geometry, following a thorough course in elementary drawing, should make it possible to deal with abstract principles of projection with a few well-chosen applications.

Descriptive geometry aids materially in developing the power of visualization which is so essential to the training of the engineer.

The graphical applications of the subject in the solution of engineering problems may be used as a means of testing the student's ability to visualize.

There is now very little discussion relative to the advantages and disadvantages of the first and third angle projection. Since the third angle is generally used in the elementary course as well as in engineering practice, it seems logical that it should be emphasized in descriptive geometry. Recent textbooks on this subject confirm the tendency toward the use of the third angle.

The use of the third angle presents new difficulties, such as that of locating the positions of magnitudes in s.p.a.ce in relation to their projections. Magnitudes must be located behind or below the drawing surface. To obviate such difficulties, some instructors demonstrate principles by first angle constructions. Others invert surfaces which in the first angle have their bases in the horizontal plane. This undesirable device may be overcome by using a second horizontal plane in the third angle. Such means of demonstration may be avoided altogether by considering the s.p.a.ce relations of magnitude to one another instead of relating them to the planes of projection. This method centers the attention of the student on the relation of magnitudes represented and develops visualization. It has been found to give excellent results in both elementary drawing and descriptive geometry.

To bring the teaching of descriptive geometry into closer harmony with its application in practice, auxiliary views are frequently used instead of the method of rotations.

Briefly, then, it appears that the modern course in descriptive geometry should contain enough applications to hold the interest of the student and to test his power of visualization; that the third angle should be emphasized, and some use should be made of auxiliary views. Above all, the development of visualizing ability should be considered one of the chief aims of the course.

=Methods of instruction in general courses=

In teaching drawing and descriptive geometry, lectures, demonstrations, and individual instruction each have a place.

Principles can best be presented in the form of lectures. The manual part of the work can be presented most effectively by means of demonstrations. The instructor should ill.u.s.trate the proper use of instruments and materials by actually going through the process himself, calling attention to important points and explaining each step as he proceeds. Individual instruction given at the student's desk is a vital factor in teaching drawing, as it offers the best means of clearing up erroneous impressions and ministering to the needs of the individual student.

Frequent recitations and quizzes serve the purpose of keeping the instructor informed as to the effectiveness of his instruction and as a means by which the student can measure his own progress and grasp upon the subject.

=Methods of instruction in technical drawing courses=

Those drawing courses which have for their primary object the teaching of technical subject matter make use of the drawings as an instrument to record facts and to test the student's knowledge of principles and methods.

In the technical courses it should be possible to a.s.sume a knowledge of the material given in the general courses. Some effort is usually necessary, however, to maintain the standards already established. The effort thus expended should result in improving technique and increased speed.

=The four-year drawing course=

In an inst.i.tution where drawing courses are given throughout the four years, much can be done by organization and cooperation to make the time spent by the student productive of the best results. More time than can usually be secured for the general courses is necessary to develop skill that will be comparable with that found in practice. The conditions in technical drawing courses approximate those in practice.

They apply methods taught in the general courses. The limited time, frequently less than 300 clock hours, devoted to the general courses makes it desirable that advantage be taken in the technical courses for further development of technique and skill. In a number of inst.i.tutions all work in drawing is so organized as to form a single drawing unit. This plan calls for cooperation on the part of all drawing teachers in the inst.i.tution. The results obtained by this method seem amply to justify the effort put forth.

=Conclusion=

The final test in any course or group of drawing courses may be measured by the student's ability to solve problems met with in engineering practice. Measured upon this basis, the newer types of courses discussed herein, those founded upon the a.n.a.lytic method and developed largely as a progressive series of working drawings, seem to be meeting with better results than did those of the older type in which the synthetic method predominated and in which abstract problems were princ.i.p.ally used.

While the college man is not fitting himself to become a draftsman, it is quite true that many start their engineering careers in the drafting office. Those who think well and are proficient in expressing their thoughts through the medium of drawing are most apt to attract attention which places them in line for higher positions.

Those who do not enter the engineering field through the drafting office will find the cultural and disciplinary training and the habits of precision and neatness instilled by a good course in drawing of great value.

J. D. PHILLIPS and H. D. ORTH _University of Wisconsin_

XXVII

THE TEACHING OF JOURNALISM

The education of the journalist or newspaper man has been brought into being by the evolution of the newspaper during the last half century.

Addison's _Spectator_ two centuries ago counted almost wholly on the original and individual expression of opinion. It had nothing beyond a few advertis.e.m.e.nts. The news sheet of the day was as wholly personal, a billboard of news and advertis.e.m.e.nts with contributed opinion in signed articles. A century ago, nearly half the s.p.a.ce in a daily went to such communications. In the four-page and the eight-page newspaper of sixty to eighty years ago, taking all forms of opinions,--leaders contributed, political correspondence from capitals, state and federal, and criticism,--about one fourth of the s.p.a.ce went to utterance editorial in character. The news filled as much more, running to a larger or smaller share as advertis.e.m.e.nts varied. The news was little edited. The telegraph down to 1880 was taken, not as it came, but more nearly so than today. In an eight-page New York paper between 1865 and 1875, a news editor with one a.s.sistant and a city editor with one a.s.sistant easily handled city, telegraph, and other copy. None of it had the intensive treatment of today. It was not until 1875 that telegraph and news began to be sharply edited, the New York Sun and the Springfield _Republican_ leading. Between 1875 and 1895, the daily paper doubled in size, and the Sunday paper quadrupled and quintupled. The relative share taken by editorial and critical matter remained about the same in amount, grew more varied in character, but dropped from 25 per cent of the total s.p.a.ce in a four-page newspaper to 3 to 5 per cent in the dailies with sixteen to twenty pages, and the news required from three to five times as many persons to handle it. The circulation of individual papers in our large cities doubled and quadrupled, and the weekly expenditure of a New York paper rose from $10,000 a week to thrice that. These rough, general statements, varying with different newspapers as well as issue by issue in the same newspaper, represent a still greater change in the character of the subjects covered.

When the newspaper was issued in communities, of a simple organization, in production, transportation, and distribution, the newspaper had some advertising, some news, and personal expression of opinion--political-partisan for the most part, critical in small part.

This opinion was chiefly, though even then not wholly, expressed by a single personality, sometimes dominant, able, unselfish, and in nature a social prophet, but in most instances weak, time-serving, and self-seeking, and partisan, with one eye on advertising, official preferred, and the other on profits, public office, and other contingent personal results.

In the complex society today, cla.s.sified, stratified, organized, and differentiated, the newspaper is a complex representation of this life. The railroad is a far more important social agency than the stagecoach. It carries more people; it offers the community more; but the individual pa.s.senger counted for more in the eye of the traveling public in the stagecoach than today in the railroad train; but n.o.body would pretend to say that the railroad president was less important than the head of a stage line, Mr. A. J. Ca.s.satt, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad and builder of its terminal, than John E.

Reeside, the head of the express stage line from New York to Philadelphia, who beat all previous records in speed and stages.

The newspaper-complex, representing all society, still expressing the opinion of society, not merely on politics but on all the range of life, creating, developing, and modifying this opinion, publishes news which has been standardized by cooperative news-gathering a.s.sociations, local, national, and international. In the daily of today "politics" is but a part and a decreasing part, and a world of new topics has come into pages which require technical skill, the well-equipped mind, a wide information, and knowledge of the condition of the newspaper. The early reporter who once gathered the city news and turned it in to be put into type and made up by the foreman,--often also, owner and publisher,--in a sheet as big as a pocket-handkerchief, is as far removed from the men who share in the big modern daily, as far as is the modern railroad man from the rough, tough individual proprietor and driver of the stagecoach, though the driver of the latter was often a most original character, and a well-known figure on the highway as railroad men are not.

=Evolution of the profession of journalism=

As this change in the American newspaper came between 1860 and 1880, the public demand came for the vocational training of the journalist and experiments in obtaining it began. When Charles A. Dana bought the New York _Sun_ in 1868, he made up his staff, managing editor, news editor, city editor, Albany correspondent and political man, from among the printers he had known on the New York _Tribune_. In ten years these were succeeded by college graduates, and the _Sun_ became a paper whose writing staff, as a whole, had college training, nearly all men from the colleges.

College men were in American journalism from its early beginnings; but, speaking in a broad sense, the American newspaper drew most of its staff in the eighteenth century and in the first half of the nineteenth century from among men who had the rough but effective training of the composing room, with the common school as a beginning.

When the high school developed from 1860 on, it began to furnish a large number of journalists, particularly in Philadelphia, where the Central High School manned many papers. By 1880, college men began to appear in a steadily growing proportion, so far as the general writing staff was concerned. If one counted the men at the top, they were in a small proportion. In journalism, as in all arts of expression, a special and supreme gift will probably always make up for lack of special training.

Between 1890 and 1900, the American newspaper as it is today was fairly launched, and Joseph Pulitzer, the ablest man in dealing with the journalism of and for the many, was the first conspicuous figure in the newspaper world to see that the time had come for the professional training of the journalist, the term he preferred to "newspaper men." Neither the calling nor the public were ready when he made his first proposal, and with singular n.o.bility of soul and sad disappointment of heart he determined to pledge his great gift of $2,000,000, paying $1,000,000 of it to Columbia University before his death and providing that the School of Journalism, to which he furnished building and endowment, should be operated within a year after his death. This came October 29, 1911, and the school opened the following year.

=Journalism today requires general and technical training=

The discussion of the education of the journalist has been in progress for twoscore years. In 1870 Whitelaw Reid published his address on the "School of Journalism" and urged systematic training, for which in the bitter personal newspaper of the day he was ridiculed as "the young professor of journalism." In 1885, Mr. Charles E. Fitch, but just gone after long newspaper service, delivered a course of lectures on the training of the journalist, at Cornell University. Two years later Mr.

Brainerd Smith, before and after of the New York _Sun_, then professor of elocution in the same university, began training in the work of the newspaper in his cla.s.s in composition, sending out his cla.s.s on a.s.signments and outlining possible occurrences which the cla.s.s wrote out. This experiment was abruptly closed by Mr. Henry W. Sage, Chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees, because the newspapers of Minneapolis inclined to treat the university as important, chiefly because it taught "journalism." Mr. Fred Newton Scott, professor of rhetoric in the University of Michigan in 1893, began, with less newspaper notice, training in newspaper English, continuing to the present time his happy success in teaching style to his students.

In 1908, Mr. Walter Williams, for twenty-four years editor, first of the Boonville _Advertiser_, and then of the Columbia, Missouri, _Herald_, became dean of the first school of journalism opened in the same year by the University of Missouri. This example was followed under the direction of Willard G. Bleyer in the University of Wisconsin. By 1911, nearly a score of colleges, universities, and technical schools were giving courses in journalism.

By 1916, the directory of teachers of journalism compiled by Mr. Carl F. Getz, of the University of Ohio, showed 107 universities and colleges which gave courses in journalism, 28 state universities, 17 state colleges and schools of journalism, and 62 colleges, endowed, denominational, or munic.i.p.al.

The teachers who offered courses in journalism numbered 127. Of these, 25 were in trade, industrial, and agricultural schools, their courses dealing with aspects of writing demanded in the fields to which the inst.i.tution devoted its work. The number of students in all these inst.i.tutions numbered about 5000. This gave about 1200 students a year, who had completed their studies and gone out with a degree recording college or technical work in which training in journalism played its part. With about 40,000 men and women who were "journalists" in the country at this time, there are probably--the estimate is little better than a guess--about 3000 posts becoming vacant each year, in all branches of periodical work, monthly, weekly, and daily.

The various training in journalism now offered stands ready to furnish a little less than half this demand. I judge it actually supplies yearly somewhat less than a fourth of the new men and women entering the calling, say about 750 in all. As in all professional schools, a number never enter the practice of the calling for which they are presumably prepared and still larger numbers leave it after a short trial. In addition, training for the work of the journalist opens the door to much publicity work, to some teaching, and to a wide range of business posts where writing is needed. No account also has been made here of the wide range of miscellaneous courses in advertising provided by universities, colleges and schools of journalism by advertising clubs, by private schools, and by teachers, local, lecturing and peripatetic. It will take at least ten years more before those who have systematic teaching in journalism will be numerous enough to color the life of the office of the magazine or newspaper, and a generation before they are in the majority.

=Development of courses and schools of journalism=