The central gazette. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1820-1827, 1827-03-24


- the teachers IauIt II the lesson is studied supert
ciaiiy, Too much aificuity is generally presentet
TO oesinners: scarcely any Dictionary can be found
wnich IS adapted TO the wants and capacity Of boy.
OF uans'atione and projections ma be drop
ped, when the student has made su fiji, lent
10 read with some case and has arrve ed al that
Were the desire for norm ton from Lcxcons and
Siammars Is excited, and where his labor is cheer
ga w'tntns probability success (2) The dithc II.
ties presented in the ordinary way Of teachin. Inv
mekmx boys commit 60 memory many rules tina,
sney cannot underestimate and Frequently in The very
language which they have to i<a,n and then reou;
ring them. with the i'm ,erlect aid Of ba,, e
eonstrue Greek or Latin authors producs nea, ~
always listiess, inactive despair on the part OF tho
teacher. "S
The practice Of w.iting that Ian suayc which ia 10
DC learned, ought to form part of tho sysiem oi
eaueation: a. offers. when properly regulated. one
OF the surcs. means OF acquiring accurate know
ledge. But the pupil ought not TO write exercises
arrsns ed under each rule of .ynta as Is tho ease i,
Common exercise books, without any regard to the
relative Importance of The rules He ouSh first 10
wre exercises Involving only those syntactica con
struetions, which form part of CIV e e. nd
these ought not TO be written be orc nc has "a ON
his own reading. met with numeroos instances OF
such constructions, and, with the aid oil his ,eac err
deuuced ! om them .enera al rule.
IT would be dithcult to select those elementary
books which arc the best very few, il any can be
called Sood-The progress oil the iearnc, must a,
hrst depend moTe on the teacie tl,an ON any thing
else
1ha, Erammars which presents the acciicnce in
clear aud intelia ible forn With atnpcs at fri
lcnsh, aud the r.ost common rules oil .yntax, with
serc'df instances, w,lf suit beginner letter than
larger book. IL 10 almost needless to udd that ell
rules, should DC in English. f3) One great obiec.
ti'n to making boys commit 10 memory a seem
Plcte course OF syntaN," any othcr roles which
are not very short, ought not to be omitted The
exceptions to the rules, both synaecai and Others
necessarily occupy more space team she rules them
selves as they consist OF enumcr a,iun OF parrtc
lars; these consequently engage the attention o
the Learner mote than the general rules, andibs:an.
ces OF irregularities, which will, perhaps not occur
in the OF several years. reading, are made Of
more importance than those which occur in every
sentence. @G,sta
irrteaching th>sprosody of the Greek and Latin
Languages fc~ general rules in English may be
| useiui-any thus more viii be injurious the
number OF rules, which cucumber common Gram
mars arc OF little use, because they not neces sa
ry--and they are ten inconv enent, because many
them are tounded on false notions Of the subject
10 Is. bo~sver, OF the utmost importance. t6at the
teacher should, from the commene eent, be careful
IN correcting errors in quantity; - this be done
half otthe pupils &bour win be saved by the habits
he will thus acqure. When he is able to re- ad the
latin poets, Tor instance Virgil, the tutor may e.
qoire him 20 commit TO memory, aud to epeat por
lions OF the lesson this has found by eIperi
ence to be attended with many beneficial feels
all ITS goodness, however depends on the accuracy
with which the task is performed: the parts select
ed Tor tins kind of repetition, ought ps such as
the student Is thoroughly acquainted WITH
Ens same remark viii apply to the Greek poc,s,
Enrifddes, Homer, &c.
= When student has made some proficiency The
practice Of ttsnslaing into Ensiish and re. Il snsla
ting the English into Latin on Greek, NAV be
doPted with great advantage. The benefits of this
system are also attesed 6y the erps fence Of al
TIC n,iity of written tfsnsiations into F.Hg1isss
from the Greek and Latin authors that are studisd.
IS also APPARENT greet accuracy is neressari,v re-
quircd in written translation; some care and con-
sideretien must be cmploye ed in finding correct and
appropriate exPressions-snd 10 this we may add
the Practice viii tend to improve the Students
knowledge Of his own language, which experience
proves to- be lamentably neglected in most of The
schools. -. , :.
10 make any progress in language, it is uece,.
sary TO read considerabfc portion Of ssper 81 good
auth ors, and not, according TO the comu,o, srac
ticc, scraps from great number entitled r. xcen,a
.Seleeta, &c: or by whatever other name they are
designated.
One object in learning Greek or Latin ought to
be To make ourselves acquainted with the s,,hiecl
matter ofthese authors bur modern edu carion bas'
substituted instead OF large portions 81 these an-
thors, little scraps and has cu,bered the student
with such an apparatus of grammass, dictionaries
and other helps, that the few years spent at school
are not sufficient to enable him TO attain TO that
which Is the object ofbis labor
One single author carefully read and explained
as 1t Dug ut 10 DE, would give real kno wiedge
and confer more satisfaction than unconp,te,l Il?
selected pieces from do zen different writers II
would be easy TO quote the cases Of several iiu.ui
ois scholars whose knowledge at first was aeaui ed
by the repeated perusal of or Two favou tie an
thors The german press offers now the mems OF
processing ~~a-Plss---sdisns Of the-olaas,es Gr
school Use at lower than inferior books an
Manufactured in otncr count, es-tbey have no
notes, which Is great advantage all real difficuI
ties should be explained by the teacher: there are
very lew books that contain notes OF any use to
young stndents--apd how few there are which
contain notes with such information as a nan OF
taste and judgment weuld 'ook for, every person.
may judge who has had the mortiicaon OF con.
suIting them.
II IS very desirable that the Greek language
shouid be taught before the Latin; every language
'hat IS learned ought to be made useful in lear ming
any other kindred tongue Greek might be made
very useful in the acquisition Of Latin but Latin
Wh'cn mas hitherto been employed medium for
the acquisition OF Greek, is thus made great OBJ
stscie TO the attainment of this end We ma safe
~ IN this casetoo, appeal TO experience; few per-
sons are well acquainted with Greek, though many
pave attempted to learn IT,. IL certainly mGstb be the
iant OF The mode Of teaching, that this anguaes
should seldom be learned, which POSSESSES so many
advantages, nearly all Of which arc such as to be
tavorabieto learners progress. Greek Grammsrs
IN Latin are now little used, Greek and ENGLISH
Lexieons wiiiaiso probably soon come INTO general
use; they will certainly be introduced into good
schools. Scbneiders Greek and German Lexicon
With the Germru trans, ted into English, has late.
ly been advertised for publication 10 England g.
nother by DonnegaH, OF which copies i'm ported
40 y slaf;o - C.t.-