them will be called upon at some time to address groups, large or small.
In addition, many, if not all of them, will be helped in the proper use
of their voices, even in private conversation.

We recommend, therefore, that a two-hour course in Fundamentals of

 

 

Speech be required for graduation of all students entering the College in
the fall of 1945 and thereafter. We further recommend that the content

 

 

 

of this course be integrated, as far as possible, with that of the pro-

 

posed new English course and of the proposed requirement in Western Civi-

lization.

III. Mathematics
Our proposals concerning mathematics are contained in the following
recommendations of the Department of Mathematics:

The Department of Mathematics wishes to submit to the Committee
on Curriculum a program to take care of students who show a serious
lack of training or ability in elementary mathematics. It is becom-
ing increasingly recognized that there is a wide variation both in
the mathematical ability and in the mathematical training of students
entering the University. Students may now graduate from our high
schools with no mathematics beyond arithmetic or they may offer es-
sentially the equivalent of the first semester of college mathematics
taught by a first-class instructor under rigorous standards. Unfor-
tunately, however, the high school transcripts are not reliable evi-
dence of the student's mathematical training or of his ability to
carry college courses at the various levels.

Evidence accumulated here and elsewhere indicates that even a
brief examination will in the great majority of cases serve to test
the student's useable knowledge of arithmetic, plane geometry, and
algebra. For a student with poor training and low ability such an
examination seems to give distinctly more reliable evidence than
does the list of courses and the accompanying grades on the high
school transcript. In view of these facts, the Department of Mathe-
matics proposes that it be permitted to use the results of examina-
tions similar to those now given to all students at entrance as well
as the record upon the high school transcript to determine for each
student the starting point of his mathematical training at the Uni-
versity. Outlined below is a proposed program to accomplish the
purposes in mind.

A. At entrance every student will be required to take an ex-
amination covering arithmetic, plane geometry, and high
school algebra.