The function of literature in secondary education

Abstract

No subject in the curriculum of the secondary school receives more attention than does literature. This was true in the days when it was to be found only in a foreign tongue and before complexity of interests had given a diversified course of study; this seems to be true now when it is studied in the vernacular and holds its place against the urgent demands of crowded programs. But in spite of this, there is doubt whether the greater numbers of those who receive a secondary education are getting from literacy study the valuable experience that is reasonably to be expected.