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Harvard's announcement of writing test for admission
Harvard is the first one to introduce the new entrance exam in writing. In 1873-1874, Harvard announced that each candidate for admission was required to write an essay. The essay was designed to test writing ability, not knowledge of literature. Secondary schools had previously based the curriculum on college preparation,they made the new entrance policy decisive in shaping secondary English courses. -
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Context for A New century(pre-1900)
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Committee of ten
National Education Association appointed a group known as the Committee of ten with harvard president Charles W.Eliot as chair. Its purpose was to examine the entire curricum on secondary school.The Conference of English, appointed by the committee of Ten, its final report has two main direct objects of teaching English:"(1)to enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts of others and to give expression to thoughts of his own;and (2)to cultivate taste for reading. -
Liberal culture
Current-traditional rhetoric, its epistemological base is positivistic and rational, offering writing as an extension fo the scientific method. Since the basis of all reliable knowledge is sense inpression, the writer is to use inductively derived data whenever possible.In 1892, Yale opposed Harvard's use of literature to teach composition, arguing that literature ought to be studied for its own sake and writing could be taught. -
National Conference on Uniform Entrance Requirements
Harvard's reading lists and other colleges that emulating its example, changed from year to year, it's hard for high school to know what literary works to teach. As a result, regional organizations were established to provide a uniform reading lists. The National Conference on Uniform Entrance Requirements in 1894 finally replaced all the regional groups.