The syllabus of instruction gives a useful insight into the curriculum at Raffles Institution, Singapore, in the 1930s.: students such as future Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew would have followed this syllabus. The section on Literature from the syllabus is reproduced below, and an original copy can be found in the archive of Raffles Institution.
LITERATURE
JUNIOR AND SENIOR
Set-Books
Set-books ordinarily fall within one or other of the following classes:
a) Novels
b) Full-dress plays (e.g. Shakespeare)
c) Short plays
d) Collections of essays
e) Short stories
f) Long poems (usually narrative)
g) Collections of short poems (anthologies.)
These classes are, of course, not capable of uniform treatment: prose and poetry must be differentiated; and the treatment of any single class will vary with the individual master's temperament and the quality of his students. Nevertheless-admitting necessary modifications--a measure of agreement as to the handling of set-books may be reached.
Before discussing the best "method", it is essential to recognise that method means "procedure"; that a "set-book" is essentially a book, "the precious life-blood of a master-spirit": and that it must not become, in the class-room, merely a convenient source of philological knowledge.
Too often Shakespeare's plays are looked upon as reasons for notes on metre, the sources of the plot, the date of the play, the play, the classical allusions, and archaic words, instead of opportunities for the most interesting study of all--mankind. Apart, therefore, from the incidental linguistic value of reading a set-book, what are its most important aims?
The Aim of Reading
The primary aim of reading (except in text-books for specialised subjects) is enjoyment. This implies, among other things, simple amusement, delight in absurdity, imaginative speculation, emotion, the intellectual stimulus of brilliant or profound thoughts, and pleasure in a tale well-told. Much of this cannot be achieved until minds become matured in post-school years, but even then it will depend upon what is done in school, where the problem begins. This conception of reading should dominate our procedure in class; the linguistic studies should emerge naturally from the interest in books, which should never be degraded to serve the use of mere dictionaries or encyclopedias. In short, the art of reading must be practiced to achieve the aims of reading.
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The Art of Reading
When students have mastered the mere mechanics of reading they must be initiated into the subtleties of language and thought and imagination, which make for true appreciation. An intonation of the voice in a poem, a gesture in a play, an apposite question, a comment on a character, all help to reveal the real charm in books, and to stimulate flagging interest.
What then is the best procedure for cultivating the art of reading?
It is suggested that spoon-feeding be avoided, and that masters should not pour their ideas into vacant minds. They should base their suggestions on what students have already learned; there should be less "teaching" and more "guidance."
(a) Novels.
In the old syllabus "rapid reading" of the whole book in class was suggested for the first term, to be followed by intensive reading in the second and third terms. This was perhaps unhappily worded, as it can be held to imply the rapid reading aloud in class, with no pauses for interesting discussion, or dwelling upon essentials. The actual reading should be done by the students themselves. The brighter ones will read their books in the first few weeks; it is a waste of their time to read to them again what they have read before. Intensive study should begin immediately-after the class have formed their own views by private-reading--followed by silent appreciative reading in class directed by the master so as to give opportunity for individual comment at the pace of the individuals in the class.
Self-reliance should be cultivated; to read the book to the class in the first term, and explain it with dictated notes in the second and third, cannot be said to do so. No book set for school-boys will be too difficult for them to understand its main plot for themselves. Let them do so in private reading, guided by hints and suggestions from the master. This avoids spoon-feeding. The students renew their interest when they discover how much they have missed when it is revealed to them, in discussion, in class, and as they progress, their appreciation widens.
The "method" for convenience may be "systematized" thus:-
(1) Students are asked to read the book for themselves, tracing out the story, understanding the actions and inter-relations of the characters as far as possible. Masters can discover by questions about the rat of progress how much time is to be devoted in class to silent reading At all times boys should be encouraged to ask their own questions, an reveal their own difficulties.
(2) When the novel is read students are asked to trace out the main incidents. This will be done orally at first, so that if an individual student misses out anything important his companions, with encouragement, will be eager to supply the information. Later, a complete resume of the story may be made in writing.
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(3) The class is asked to describe characters, and their behaviour and appearance. This will require hints and guidance from the master, so that significant dialogue or action illustrative of character may be appreciated. In. all probability masters will find that the first attempts to discuss character are little more than recitals of actions, often degenerating into mere repetitions of the plot. Examination papers frequently reveal this weakness, which is closely akin to the besetting sin of irrelevance.
(4) The inter-relation of characters is best done by drawing up a list, as in the "dramatis personae" of a play:- e.g.
Sir Hugh ...... A Norman Knight
Lady Olena .....his wife
Richard ........ their son--in love with Alice, etc.
(5) In explaining the plot, the master should be careful to emphasise the conflict of characters and temperaments which provide interest and the rise to a climax and the fall to a close which is the mark of the novel and the drama. When they are shown how a plot follows a complete design, and how its threads are woven into a complete pattern, they will follow its plot and sub-plots with keener interest.
(6) Full use should be made of anticipation, of "wondering what is going to happen next", trying to decide by discussing what has already been learned, and testing the conclusions by subsequent reading. The class should be shown how no incident or dialogue is without a significance pointing to future development. This exercise should be concentrated upon. The inability to draw a simple inference is one of the stupendous obstacles in Malayan education. It is not enough to ask "What did he do". It is far more important to ask "Why did he do it" ?
(Examples of this weakness are worth inserting. In "Eothen" Kinglake desribes two occasions on which he camped for the night in the open air. On the first occasion he was near a brushwood hedge, so he made a fire. On the second occasion he was on the barren shores of the Dead Sea. He mentions incidentally that he fe1t the want of a fire on that occasion. In a class of Senior boys there was not one who could explain why Kinglake was able to light a fire on the first occasion, but unable to do so on the second.)
Similarly, when studying "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", students have been found who were quite unable to understand why Browning saves one rat, or appreciate the significance of the crippled child who was left behind.
(7) Characterisation.
The master should, explain the difference between characters and figures. As the reading progresses students should be asked for commentary on the actions, dress, and temperament of the characters. It is highly dangerous to ask the students to make their own notes for [31-32] permanent record; on the other hand it is valueless for the master to do all the work. From the combined efforts of his students, he will be able day by day to record details on the blackboard, and ultimately will have a complete sketch of characteristics. From this blackboard sketch, reproduced one day in full, the class may be asked to write a full-dress pen-portrait, which must be corrected and checked.
(8) General. Descriptive passages, etc.
This does not require much comment. Passages important for their vividness of description of incidents or objects will be pointed out and discussed as they occur. These will illustrate the style and language of the author, considered below.
(9) Linguistic.
Passages which contain particular literary qualities should be dwelt on, but not over-laboured. This is essential to appreciation, and linguistically valuable as a demonstration of the flexibility of language. It is not the dull material thing some contrive to make it.
Idiomatic expressions should be noticed and discussed in their context, where they have their full meaning.
Single words sometimes have an interesting history, and a digression and dissertation upon them, when they are found in reading, is valuable in showing that language is alive. It is not necessary, however, to explain every word, or paraphrase every sentence, as is too often done. If the independently acquired knowledge of the class is found to be competent in the early stages, it may save wastage to omit from class discussion sections which are purely narrative and contain few distinguishing features.
10) Reading for Appreciation.
Valuable and interesting exercises which give scope for individual ingenuity should no be hard to find. The nature of the book will decide, I them, but the following indicate the type of exercise here intended:--
(a) Write an imaginary series of letters between character A and character B.
(b) Pretend you are introduced to A at a party. What would you say to him, and what do you think the subsequent conversation would be?
(c) If C had not done so-and-so, What would have been the subsequent course of the story?
(d) The book has a sad ending. Rewrite the last chapter, giving it a happy ending. Which is the more satisfactory?
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The amount of written work will be decided by the amount of time required for correction, which must be careful and pointed. An exercise set and left uncorrected positively harmful, for obvious reasons.
Specially good work which goes to the heart of the matter may be read to illustrate what is required. It is inadvisable to give the names of inferior performers. The master must make it clear that what he reads out is not for condemnation but for illustration, and the students must be persuaded to recognise that this practice is part of a communal effort for the benefit of the whole class.
These lessons can be varied with occasional lessons on the author, his life, style, and with anecdotes about him. Reference should be made frequently to other books of the same author. He should be treated as a character of equal importance with that of the people in his novel.
(b) Full-dress Play (e.g. Shakespeare).
One of the first ideas which should be created in the minds of boys first introduced to Shakespeare is this--that his plays were written in order to be acted.
The next step should be the presentation of each one of the chief characters in the play in bold outlines, so that the class may be able to follow and appreciate the relationship and conflict between them. Practically every one of Shakespeare's plays, particularly his tragedies, is a study of some sort of conflict in which there is a clash of ideas, loyalties, ambitions, desires, or contrasting personalities.
This suggests another outstanding feature of Shakespeare's plays, which can be illustrated and explained later when the whole play has been read once,--that is, contrast. There are in all the plays abundant examples of contrast between characters or scenes. The fat Sir Toby Belch stands out in bold contrast to the half-witted wisp of humanity, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and as a result we have a far truer appreciation of both than we would if we only saw them separately. The ironic comedy of the grave-digging scene in Hamlet is in contrast to the tragic scenes before and after it. The most should be made of this feature in the plays. Nobody could draw a character with such unerring truth as Shakespeare, and if, after the play is done with, the class not feel that each one of the principal characters in it is a living personality, then the play is lost. The boys must not only be able to recite Mark Antony's oration, but also see and hear Mark Antony speak, which is something far more important.
For this reason the brunt of the task lies at first with the teacher. The practice of starting to read a play for the first time by allotting parts to different boys in the class and telling them to read the play aloud, is quite wrong. They cannot be expected to read a play in blank-verse, in a language which is strange to them, without some preliminary demonstration and explanation. A master with an ear tuned to the cadences of Shakespeare will suffer agonies in class when he hears his boys read their [33-34] lines thus untutored. The reading of the play aloud by the boys themselves should be done sparingly at first. A certain amount of it is good, but unless they act their parts as well, too much reading aloud of Shakespeare by local school-boys is harmful. It does then far more good at first to hear a master reading well than to hear other boys "murder" Shakespeare's lines. The speaking of blank-verse should be relegated to lessons specially designed for elocution.
It is justifiable, for the sake of making a scene "live", to explain it and give a short paraphrase of it in colloquial English.
An important feature of a play to dwell upon is its compactness. In common with a novel, it has a main plot, inter-woven sub-plots, a climax, and a close, but in many ways the technique of play-writing is far more difficult. The writer has less room to move. He must do several things at once in order to overcome the difficulties of presentation. Dialogue must not only help forward the plot, but it must indicate character, and be true to it, suggest events which cannot take place on the stage, and give the audience information necessary for the understanding and enjoyment of the play. The actors must, by their skill, convene the full significance of a remark by gesture, grimace, and inflection of the voice. A world of meaning is conveyed by a great actor by a single word. The master must do what he can to bring out and vivify these parts of the play.
The drama is always written by an author with an eye to stage requirements, and for that reason it must be acted in class (or at least, read dramatically). Much Dialogue reads badly but acts well. A play has to be read privately, but it must also be read dramatically, or acted, in class, to bring out the significance of its dialogue.
The class will study the characters in the play as they study the characters of the novel. They should be encouraged to form their own opinions as they proceed, collecting evidence or examples as they occur. Unorthodox opinions from bright boys should not be discouraged. Some of Shakespeare's characters are the subject of much controversy. There are for instance, two conflicting opinions with regard to Portia in the "Merchant of Venice." Bassanio, in the same play, is either liked or strongly disliked.
In the later stages of study Hazlitt should be read and discussed, with J. B. Priestley's "The English Comic Characters" wherever he is relevant. Short quotations from them may well be noted for future use.
(c) Short Plays.
These, in general, may be dealt with along the same lines as, the longer plays. Here, however, the dialogue is as taut as a fiddle string; not a word is without significance. A collection of short plays gives opportunity for contrasting and comparing different methods and styles, and for studying the interesting workmanship of playwrighting. [34-35] An interesting exercise for really clever boys would be to write a short-play themselves in order to find out from experience how very difficult it is.
(d) Collection of Essays.
A good start is to ask and explain the obvious but interesting question, "What is an essay. This is not as obvious as it seems. The word "essay" is a much abused term. We apply it to school-boy efforts, Macaulay's treatises. Pope's long poem, as well as to the essay proper, which is really a formless piece of prose with no set limits or restrictions. The essay of the modern type has been likened by J. B. Priestley (himself an excellent example of a modern essayist) to "an old friend talking." Given a starting-point, the writer can ramble from it where he likes, and touch upon an unlimited variety of topics before he returns, if he returns at all, to his starting point. Belloc has illustrated this by the titles he has given to some of the volumes of his collected essays --"On Everything," "On Nothing," and just "On." What, then, is the distinctive feature of the modern essay to be appreciated by the classes?
This, in brief, is the revelation of the personality of the writer. In the essays he gives us his own personal and intimate reactions to the world around him, and often jests at his own expense. Boys should be on the look-out for this, so that, when they have read the essays carefully, they not only have some knowledge of the writer's opinions on various topics, but, what is more important, some knowledge of the writer as a man. They should feel that they have sat in his study and listened to his conversation. Tnis should help to clear up many of the difficulties which seem to surround this type of book as a class-room study.
With this book, as with the novel, the method should not be to wade through it laboriously page by page, or necessarily essay by essay in their order of arrangement. Each essay should be taken as a whole. To deal with part of one essay and part of the next in the same lesson is to be avoided. It may be found possible to group them into different categories,--e.g. biographical, travel, literary, critical, humorous, and so onn. Ideas in one essay may be repeated in another. If so, they should be noted as characteristies of the author concerned.
(e) Short Stories.
The procedure described above for the studying of novels applies equally well to short stories.
Collections of stories by different authors have an added interest in that boys are acquainted with a variety of writers, and may be encouraged to read other works of those they like best.
(f and g) Lay Poems and Anthologies.
These give rise to a hotly-debated subject. It is sufficient, to state here that poetry cannot be "taught" in school.
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Poems may be read, and if handled with enthusiasm and imagination, enjoyed in school.
This is the most difficult of all types of literature for class-room study, and it is a debatable point whether it is desirable to select it as a subject for examination. The great danger lies in the temptation to enforce the memorising of poems, and to bring compulsion to bear upon the treatment of a subject which should have no compulsion about it at all. You cannot make boys or grown-ups like poems. All literature is a matter of personal taste, not necessity. Again, the mood of the reader decides the choice of the poems to be read. It is useless to wring one's hands in front of a class and say, "Can't you see how beautiful it is"? One can only hope that literary taste will gradually develop and beauty be discovered where it was not seen before. Literary taste is more likely to be developed without examinations than with them. The teacher must be enthusiastic himself in the hope that his enthusiasm will be caught by his class.
Answers to such questions as "Select your favourite poem, and explain why you have chosen it", are invariably disappointing at first.
They often amount to little more than something as follows:--
"My favourite poem is Keat's "Ode to Autumn." In it there are many beautiful limes which describe Autumn in beautiful language."
I. A. Richards' "Practical Criticism" (Kegan Paul) might be a useful book solely for masters' use at this stage. To criticise and appreciate poems usefully some acquaintance with the technicalities of metre is necessary, but the class should be guarded against mere scansion or description of metre masquerading as criticism. Full use can be made in class of popular periodicals, such as "John O' London's Weekly," "Everyman", and the "Bookman". These frequently have simply written articles on important men of letters. One of the best manuals on modern poets ns A. C. Ward's "Twentieth Century Literature", and Iolo William's "Modern Poetry" is a handy little volume. Extracts, quotations, or summaries from these sources will often prove useful at this stage.
Examination Questions.
It is one thing to enjoy books in class; it is another to prepare the class for an examination in that book. But the two can be reconciled, and boys who have enjoyed a book should be better examinees than those who have not.
It is important, however, to help boys to make the most of their knowledge in examinations, and set it out to the best advantage. Points which should be emphasised are dealt with below.
(1) Context Questions.
This is a necessary evil, because without it, it would be possible to prepare a class in six weeks for the examination, without reading the play at all. It has many pitfalls. Boys have been known to answer context-questions in tabular form, thus:-
| By whom | To whom | When |
| Portia | Shylock | Trial-Scene |
Condemnation of such a practice is superfluous.
After two readings boys can say, in 8 cases out of 10, who said a certain line. The value lies not so much in knowing who said it; but how it came to be said at all.
The following may be taken as a fair example of an answer to a context question, and the class should be taught to adopt it, or something like it, as a model.
"For Brutus is an honourable man."
"In his funeral oration Antony tries to keep his promise to the conspirators not to say anything damaging about them, and at the same time he wishes to stir up the mob against them. He succeeds by his use of irony and sarcasm. At first he says nothing which, from its literal meaning, is anything but good, but by the sound of his voice and its implications, his words have the effect he intends. On several occasions in his speech he refers to Brutus as "an honourable man", becoming more and more scornful as he proceeds until the crowd is incensed against the conspirators."
An answer like this reveals more know1edge of the play and appreciation of a situation than the bald statement:--"These words were spoken by Antony to the crowd". The tendency for boys to use the formula "These words were told (sic) by so and so to so and so when etc., etc. . . should be stamped out at once.
It may be pointed out here that the Present Tense should be employed in describing the action of a play, which is not, strictly, speaking, an actual series of events which have really occured. They happen afresh whenever the play is read or performed. Thus boys should not write "Brutus stabbed Caesar", but "Brutus stabs Caesar".
This type of question takes rather a different form, when books of essays, travel, or other non-fictional works, are being examined. Then short extracts, not pieces of dialogue, are set for discussion. In Oxford these are known as "gobbets".
At first boys will tackle this type of question badly, because it is difficult for them to appreciate what is wanted. They must be shown that no "gobbet" is selected at random. The extracts are selected with care so that they refer, to important features of the book.
"Eothen" is a good example of a book from which such "gobbets" may be set.
e.g. "Their humility is not at all mis-placed, for you see at a glance (poor fellows) that they belong to the lag remove of the human race."
The tendency is for boys to write something as follows:--
"Kinglake says this about the monks of Palestine. He says they were humble, and belonged to the lag remove of the human race."
A bald statement and repetition is all that they can produce.
What is wanted is something more allusive and informative, rather in this fashion:--
"Kinglake writes an interesting chapter on the monks in Palestine, who, he says, were more noteworthy for their excellent wine than their mental ability or intellectual attainments. For the most part they were drawn from the peasant classes of Spain and Italy, and seemed to know little of the world around them, or why they had been sent to the Holy Land.
They showed a simple but eager desire for news, for they were very out-of-date in their information. They showed but little intelligence in. adapting themselves to emergencies (e.g. the plague) and seemed to deserve the epithet "lag remove", -- that is, the backward class of a school".
(2) Paraphrase.
(See language syllabus for Juniors and Seniors).
(3) Writing Short Notes.
This type of question, simple as it may appear, is often done badly, because pupils fail to bring out in their short notes the point requiring emphasis about the person or thing they are dealing with. They must practise the art of rapid and concise summarisation. Take, for example, a short note to be written on Carrigaholt, a character in "Eothen."
The tendency is for many boys to mention one or two trifling details, thus:--
"Carrigaholt was a friend of Kinglake. He went in a ship from England to Constantinople. The captain had a fat wife."
Now the point Kinglake emphasises about his friend is his amusing and interesting character, the weaknesses of which nearly, but not quite, placed him in embarrassing situations. The note, therefore, should bring out Carrigaholt as a figure of fun, rather after this manner:--
"Henry Stuart Benton (nicknamed Carrigaholt by Kinglake, after his home in Ireland) appeared suddenly at Constantinople, to the surprise and amusement of his two friends. He as a man of sudden enthusiasms which evaporated before they had time to have much effect. Thus he just escaped being married in Smyrna, adopting a child, and other embarrassing contretemps. Kinglake describes Carrigaholt as an amusing personality, with a strong strain of Irish inconsequence in his character.
We are told that his desire for romance was eventually quelled by marriage.
(4) Character Sketches
See "Characterisation" above.
Boys should be encouraged to give plenty of illustration of the points mentioned. Examiners frequently complain of vague generalisation. In these, and in all questions, boys must impress upon examiners their knowledge of the text.
Schemes of Work.
A large measure of freedom in tackling the literature problem is desirable. Methods of teaching will differ in detail (but, not in principle) in different forms according to differences in the ability of the boys, or according to masters' personal preferences. At the same time there must be agreement concerning the objects to be attained, otherwise terminal examinations become impossible. This is best decided in subject-conferences at the beginning of each term, rather than in a formal syllabus laid down for permanent application. It is possible here however, to state in a general way the progress to be expected at the end of the first and second terms in the year.
First Terminal Examination.
The questions will expect that all the books set for study will have been "broken into." They will not require any detailed knowledge, but will test the knowledge of the broad outlines and fundamental principles. In other words, they will expect that the classes will have "broken the backs" of their books.
Second Terminal Examination.
This, as far as possible (unless the subject-conference at the beginning of the terms shall decide otherwise in very special cases) will consist of a "dress-rehearsal " for the Cambridge examination, and the papers should be of the type and difficulty to be expected in the following December.
It is recognised that this may have its drawbacks as a teaching practice, but requirements of school organisation make it essential.
Last updated: July 8, 2003