New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-15
THE NATIONAL TEACHERs' con.
vENTION.

The meeting of the National Teachers Con-
yention at Harrisburg tomorrow, promises TO
be full of interest and importance. Now that
the cessation of the war gives US aprospect OF
having the young people at home, 1t is proper
that we should give our attention to the best
method of fitting them for the great response
bilities of life. Mr.. Buckle advances the theory
that in America, more than in any other coun'
try in the world, there are few men OF great
ignorance and few men Of great learning
Whether this happy medocrity Is the true De-
mocracy of education or not We cannot say. 1t
might be something more than mere rhet-
orical contest to carry Mr.. Buckles theory into
other phases Of life. In America, perhaps.
we find fewer ruins and more COM
Portable dwellings; fewer moss-covered
towers and more neat churches, fewer
burdensome and costly traditions,
and more practical thought, than in any other
country on the earth. That is a law OF beng.
Time will bring US the moss and the ruins and
the traditions Just as it brings wrinkles to the
face. and white hairs to the brow of the aged. II
is so with education. We are apt to look up TO
Cambridge and Oxford, and think with sadness
of our own modest Harvard and Yale. We
have neither Rugby, nor Harrow, nor Elton. We
do not want them. These messy old schools
with all their virtues and glOries-are mere
rookeries, where the birds OF superstition and
bigotry and sloth sit cawing and cawing, dread
-. a, HI, no Of Wa
have rocks enough at West Point, and some
times we fancy that We see them lowering
around our New-England semnaries. Thus
far, however, they find too much air and light
and agitation.
The question mainly under discussion by our
masters Of education is this: Shall We adopt
a school system of our own, or blindly follow
that taught by the Old universities In palmer
terms, Is it necessary for our young men to be
perfect masters Of Greek and Latin, to the
exclusion of every natural and physical sciences
The classical system has been tried, and the
Convention, in discussing it, will have an I'M
usual amount of evidence. Mr.. w. p. Akin
son Of Boston has printed and published an
admirable lecture on the subject marked with
clearness and taste, and digesting large amount
of information. We know what results are at
tanned by the Universities and great Grammar
Schools of England. Parliament has examined
into their condition, and given us report in
four large volumes. In Eton, we find that
everything is neglected but the classics and
cricket. Cricket, even, is contraband science,
which the boys pursue with unwearied dill
gence. The boys attain certain proficiency
in reading the plays Of Sophocles, or the
poems OF Virgil; but, as for common
English, it is neglected. According to the
evidence Of an Eton student, We find that, as a
general thing, the boys do not read newspapers
they did not read Shakespeare-Milton was
only study-Coleridge was seldom opened.
las general thing, boys read nothing at all
except novels And such novels Thackeray
was difficult, land not often perused. Bull
wer and Lever were more popular; but the
principal readings were the Railway editions
of noyels blood and thunder and crime
This speaks badly for Eton; but we do not find
that the other schools are any better. How
can different results be expected, when We find
at Westminster classics count as two-tbirds
and all other studies as one.thirdi At Harrow
mathematics were not introduced until 1s.5.
and even now one mark in class;cs
equals four in mathematics. Rugby ia
not much better. How does this EXAMINING
Of Latin and Greek affect the English mind
What are the results of training in the schools
Let us look at the list of great Englishmen, and
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