Three Epochs, Three Quotes

Epoch 1

[New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts] is to take young men who have been made familiar with the more simple processes and practices of the farm and shop—to take them where the shop, farm and common school leave them—and give them such general training as will form good habits of study and enable them to become first-class men, useful and influential citizens. (Ezekial Dimond, first professor at New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, as qtd in Babcock, p. 21)

Epoch 2

Your referral of the English A problem to the Policies Committee produced a very fine study by the sub-committee and a worthwhile vote by the faculty of the college. I had hoped that the matter would really be attended to, that the admissions regulations would ultimately be enforced, even that entering students would be given entrance examinations that would sort the unfit from the fit. Now comes your resignation, and I fear that the prospect of change for the better will prove illusory as other such prospects have in the past. I sincerely hope, however, that before you leave the campus, you can somehow see your way clear to work for an enforcement of entrance regulations and a raising of the scholastic standards of the university by institution of entrance examinations for all students. If such a procedure is not introduced, the university will in the next decade swell in size by the admission of large numbers of unqualified students, and the great opportunity of the university to grow in intellectual stature will be lost. (Letter from Sylvester Bingham to Edward Y. Blewett, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, 6/11/58)

Epoch 3

The first issue of this handbook was done by faculty for students. This one has been done by students for students. That's progress, I'd say, and I salute and thank those who have accomplished it. (The English Major Handbook, Robert Hapgood, Chairman of the UNH English Department, 1973)

The department has instituted a new advising system for students following the English requirements in the 1972-73 catalogue.

Faculty advising will be done by an appointed group of professors who will represent a variety of fields within the department. These fields include: pre-graduate school; English Teaching; Writing; Language; American Literature; early English Literature; later English Literature; and comparative literature.  (The English Major Handbook, 1973, p. 3)

Students entering under the new curriculum have great flexibility in their course selections within the department. Many opportunities exist for specialization in a particular genre or century. [...] Encumbent with this flexibility is the problem that a student may become too specialized and lose the diversity so vital to the English major. We suggest a variety of English courses be included in every student's selection. A general background in English Literature is very important for understanding any special area of study. Courses in composition and non-fiction writing are always a good idea. A wise plan for the new student of English would be a general course of study, encompassing a solid literary background and writing skills.

Following this article is an outline which separates the course offerings into several different emphases. These are the studies in which a student may specialize, and with the exception the English Teaching program, they are not restricted. They generally are recognized by the department as specialities and have had advisors designated to them. There is no formal process by which one declares his preferences in these sub-divisions, though he may wish to inform the professors he works with of his special interest. (The English Major Handbook, 1973, p. 11-12)


Writing is most important not as etiquette, not even as a tool, but as a contribution to the development of a person, no matter what that person’s background and talents. (Donald Graves, Balance the Basics: Let them Write, A Report to the Ford Foundation, 1978)