Author's Ph.D. thesis at Cornell. Author's vita describes her education and teaching experience, including her experience as supervisor of practice teaching in English at the Ithaca High School. Introduction begins by claiming the unpopularity of composition among students, and by stating the study doesn't make a contribution to methods of composition teaching, but seeks to add a page to the history of American education. It addresses: when and where English composition first taught in American secondary schools, the rapidity of its introduction, when it became recognized as part of the curriculum, and methods used from 1750 to 1900. The chapters are: lack of composition teaching before 1750, the introduction of composition, the extension of composition teaching, 1820–1900, the influence of college entrance requirements on composition teaching, the development of method in composition teaching, and the conclusion. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.