Precis Writing for American Schools

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. I of course realize that in some of our American schools we have done work which carries out the same general intent as that which directs the making of the precis: we have exercises in abridging, summarizing, abstract-making, and condensation. Indeed, recent questions Of the College Entrance Examination Board, especially the English Comprehensive Examinations, have taken the value of this work into strict account. Yet in practically none of our schools have we pursued this method systematically; it has all been sporadic, and limited pretty exclusively to the closing year of the secondary school, when many of our teachers have centred their attention upon the drill which prepares their pupils for the college entrance exami nations. And certainly in all these efforts we have evolved no accepted technique for the making of a satisfactory precis. In England, on the other hand, the composition courses are for the most part formulated with the idea that precis writing is sure to be one Of its integral parts. With that conception dominant, many good British textbooks on precis writing have been published and are in current use in English classes throughout Great Britain.