Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-11-08

because G they said the learning they
were masters of was the only knowl-
edge that had any bearing upon the
veal or woes of humanity.
e We laugh at the ignorance of these
old pedants, we lament their bigotry,
and denounce their intolerance, we
boast of our intellectual progress, and
are proud Of our schools Of learning.
Yet to-day in the eighth decade of the
ninteenth century, every youth who
aspires to what is called liberal edu-
cation, must pursue his journey in
search of truth, over the curriculum of
the Trivium and the Quadrivium,
must make his pilgrimage to the tenn
pie of knowledge over the winding
ways that lead him through ancient
Greece and Rome. Do you doubt this?
Take up catalOue of any one of the
Colleges and Universities, in the Uni
ted States, turn to the classical course,
the only one in the estimation Of
their professors that gives liberal
culture, and in every one Of them
from the thick and bulky pamphlets
that make the catalogues of Harvard
and Yale, to the thin and starved look
ing circular of some scholastic nursery,
in the far West, glorifying itself by
the title of University, and you will
find laid down the seven arts of the
Trivium and the Qudrivium the three
roads that lead (possibly)tO eloquence,
and the four roads that lead nowhere.
1t takes four years to complete the
classical course of our American Col
leges. To enter the college proper,
requires three years continual drill in
Latin and Greek, with perhaps
moiety of time devoted to mathemat-
les. To enter upon the preparatory
course the pupil is required to have
some knowledge of English Grammar,
Arithmetic, and Geography; but even
these limited requisites are not strictly
insisted upon by some of these prepar-
atory schools. know graduates from
some of the highest collegiate institu-
tions in the land, who have never
studied English Grammar, and whose
study of Geography, embraced only
that little belt of the earth, on the
shores of the Mediterranean; where
"Whera burning Sappho loved and sung
Where DelOs rose, and Phoebus sprung"
To gain admission into the Freshman
class of our better colleges the appli-
cant must pass examination in all the
Greek and Latin authors he has read
during the preparatory course-which
run about as follows: Latin, Caesar
four books, Virgil, six books, Cicero,
six orations, Greek, XenOphon's, An
alysis, three books, Memorabilia, and
four Gospels of the Greek test besides
the Grammars of both languages, and
in some institutions Greek and Latin
prose composition. In mathematics,
Algebra to Quadaratic Equations, and
in four books of Geometry. A boy of
ordinary intelligence, with an average
knowledge of Arithmetic to begin
with, could master all the mathemat-
les requisite to enter our best colleges
in six months, the remaining two
years and half may be credited to
Latin and Greek. When he enters
college he begins another round of an
cient languages. The course of study
laid down in the college curriculum,
for every term from the first in the
Freshman year, to the last in the SEN
iOr, begins with Latin and Greek fol-
lowed by mathematics, and OCCASION
ally, as if by way of punishment for
their inferiority tapers off with one OF
the Natural Sciences, Chemistry,
Botany, Geology, or Physiology, etc.
A single term varying from ten to
twenty weeks, is considered sufficient
time to waste upon any one of these.
The term occupied in the study Of the
Physical Sciences, English Literature,
10 iocx
quire more than two years OF the whole
course preparatory and collegiate,
leaving at least five out Of the seven
years to be devoted solely to Latin
and Greek. The demand for better
instruction in the modern sciences has
forced many Of our higher institutions
of learning, within the last ten or tif-
teen years, to establish scientific
course distinct from their classical.
But in all these institutions there eX-
lists caste, or aristOcracy, that looks
down with contempt upon the scien-
titles. The scientific student is not ell
igible to membership in college sOcie-
ties, is denied college honOrs, and Is
even Ostracised from share in the
traditional college pranks. The soph-
OmOre who would descend SO low as to
haze scientific, would be deemed
Pariah, and would be an Outcast from
the edifying society of his fellow ruff
fans. 1t is but very recently that any
of the colleges conferred degrees upon
those completing scientific course.
The honor conferred by the possession
of such degree is considered by the
cOllege-bred to be far inferior to that
which pertains to the possession of a
classical diploma.
Looking back through the maze of
bygone years, and viewing dispassiOn-
ately the incentives that prompted
me and my classmates to begin, con-
tinue and complete classical course,
am inclined to believe that it was
not so much the love of learning that
impelled and urged us on, as the de-
sire of writing A. B., and in due time
A. M. after our names through life.
There is barbaric love of display in
every one of us that delights on titles
and hOnOrs, and the emptier these are
the more we seem to love them, and
to cling to them. The doughty civil
ian upon whom some practical joker
has conferred the rank of General, re-
ceives it as need due to his martial
bearing, and guards his empty title
forever after more jealously than he
does his integrity. The holiday Colo
mel of the bloodless Ninth, whose
sword has cleft no deadlier foe than
the empty air, frowns tiercer than the
gods of war should you inadvertently
address him without adding his prefix.
And the Professor Of Mud Flat Semi
nary, or Coyote Creek District, is con-
veniently deaf when you appeal to