# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S525
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

524 | Report of Board for Higher Education

‘political science. Unless this is done, a separate unit of compara ve
government and international relations should be offered as ind
pensable for the future pastor. :

Economics courses at some of our schools deal chiefly in pure eco=%4
nomics, ie., principles. Since instruction in this field is limited to
one semester, it would be more effective to give’a problems coursé,
with the necessary principles introduced at the appropriate times b

the instructor. This is the approach suggested by the 1937 cur.
riculum. -!

English

The treatment of English throughout the six-year course generall
is excellent. In one major area a definite weakness exists. The
English instructor presumably is charged with the major: responsi
bility of developing the reading habit in the students. By and larg
our colleges are producing non-readers. The testing program give
ample evidence that this is, in fact, the situation.

A further weakness to be noted is the over-stress on the mechanic:
of English and a corresponding under-emphasis on the development o
creative writing ability.

In spite of the fact that the high school level offers courses in
types of literature, it ‘is most desirable that prose literature be studied,;
also in the college. oR

In general, there is an apparent over-emphasis in the mid-central’:
schools on forensics. Less training in formal debate, more in round:
table discussion is desirable. Really effective work in this field is':
done by very few institutions. The broader field of speech. training,
of such importance to the Pastor, is left to lie fallow.

Science

The 1937 curriculum envisioned a very specific curriculum pat-
tern for the sciences. The first year of science instruction in hi
-school was to include materials from the various fields of science in
a general science course. Chemistry was suggested for the third year
or fourth year of high school as the preferred laboratory course. :

The college courses were to consist of a physical science surve
and a biological survey. They were thus to eliminate departmen
lines, to provide a great amount of demonstration and very litt
laboratory work, and were to stress the practical applications rather
than technical detail. They were not to be Presented from the vie
point of the subject matter specialist. —~