New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-28
FROM THE PEOPLE.


QUANTITY INSTEAD or QUALITY INSISTED UPoN AT
ENTRANCE ExAsfINArIOVs-THE BENEFITS Oh
THOROUGH STUDY LOST THROUGH TIE RE-
QUIREMENT.
To the EditOr Of The Tribune
SIR: Now that the old college year is over
and the approaching, will You allow graduate
OF Yale TO call the attention OF the Faculty tn very mis-
clieyous policy obtaining in the college, and probably IN
most Of coleges' refer 70 the substitution of Qud1t
hy for quaias measure Of excellence in both the pre-
paratory and the college studies
The main end OF the college course being discipline and
the laying foundations rather than the acquisition Of
knowledge, and being impossible underdaa or certainly
the present, conditions to read more than small fac
t0n OF the whole OF Greek and Latin Classics Thy
should the question Of amount come vpatdHf Is worth
while to read little larger fraction of the whole at tie
sacrifice of nice, discriminating knowledge and COM
mand OF the languages well rs of perfect and accu
rate knowledge OF the works themselves rs individual
whOlcsl Why insist, for example, on the Buc0lios,
Georges, and six books of the Eled read they must
then be- in imperfect If sloyenly way, when one
book could be presnedu such manner that alncsteycry
possible question relating to it could he answered-his
oucal, grammatical aud pathological. rhetorical,
graphical. any otherl Why insist four books o.
Caesar and 0rdtions OF Cicero, when two Of each
would be- ampef Aud in Greek, why require four books
of the Ana0ass and three OF the HAD when Of each
would be amply sufficient in point Of quantity, and would
allow the lad 10 acquire-what now very seldom is ac
CURED by CHEST schOlarsa thorough command OF
that language which, used by Plato, mt least DIR.
Arnold used call the most perfect instrument OF
thought and expression ever employed by mani What
few pages, less, in comparison with little
absolutely mastered, and with the establishment OF hf
long HABITS OF hOIOughncss and accuracy IL is with
profound gratitude that the writer (hen lad at Ph
lips's Academy Andoyerl recalls the simple incident
which tells its story without need OF comment that
when his class in the for the first time under
Dr. Taylor (hc Arnold Of AmerIcal nearly t1O Digs
spent in aiaiy=ing NE drs, fyur lines Of tie Aeid. Is
II any wonder that faithful students knew about
Latin and Greek leaving that and the very few
liar academies, than the best students not there
trained did on leaving eollegel For one, say with
out the slightest hesitation that the positive
instruction in the languages received at Yale did not for
a moment compare with that at the Andover Academy.
dow nave the German scholars acquired their command
OF the languages by the proyerbil German thor
oughnc,s" at the outsctl And II quantity and
tended knOwedge Of classical literature be conceded 10
be especially desirable, is il most likely to be
achieved not by slow and patient thoroughnes at the
bcginnngl 1t the writer's constant experience,
confirmed by thar Of others that the college lessons in
the languages too long be mastered in the tme
allowed for their preparation. This, however only
the fruit OF the previous mistake with regard to the
lminary course The lessons in college would not have
been too long had not the amount required for
admission made it impossible the student acquire
with such ready command OF yocabulsos and dioUs
wonld enable hun read any ordinary Greek or Latin
sight. Such preparation woud seem to leave the way
open for that which would appear, in view of the dcve
0pmg maturity of the pupil, to be the proper field Of
c)IeGe mstructon-attention to the nicer points of
rhetoric and phiioogy, well criticism of the
lteratures such. In place Of tins, during Freshman
and Sophomore years instructors, with two
exceptions, allowed us TO translate in the bOlCst
most barbarous fashion while few, not philosophical
but petty and mechanical rules for the genityc abba
tive, the suhjuuctIyc mode, question about
unmcanug date, summed up the analsl OF the passage
Ia answer 20 these structures ii h@s'neeu said that the
OF transaons 10y students Las neccsstatcd the
extending OF tie amount TO be read in order that they
may have something do" But besides virtual and
very sad ADMISSION thus made, that the qtdhty OF the
work - o be made secondary quite ignored who does
that the Increase OF the amount required
!, did not the outset induce by necessity the OF
tIarslators, has mute nen absolutely udispc.St56
by iHdi,sb-iDus and icilbg Scfoidyf How much
wiser, one w0nld think To make the examination Of the
passage UhI, passage being brief one profound ana
searching that soycuiy student as who depends
trnsatous Is Ia constant danger OF becoming could
possibly sustain i'll
Much said OF the raising OF the standard ia both the
preparatory and the undergraduate courses bat TINS ap
p.trs consist almost wholly in increase Of tie
amount required. and this II present view he correct,
must involve iositye t0Ucriag ~ standard in the 4ld
y of work presented How much better il would be Il
Yale for example, should announce that two years hence
the amount required for admission in the classcs-for,
sneuIlrly enough the amount required in the mat he
MATES very mod rate aud reaSOnable-sha be
duccd by twO-;hrds three-fOurths while the
zion of the subjects involved shall be of the most thorough
and searching character leaving almost point IN
touched which Is Illustrated. any proper sug
gested by the passage in hand What stir there would
be hundreds of lads who racing the
pItlV fha
question! What good hope, then, of body of Greeians
and Latnists who should be living the now
reasonable reproach OF the scientists that. after all the
time and Ia Dor spent, students know almost nothing
OF the languages and who should also he fitted take
up and carry forward the important Investigations
in linguistic science. FEsTINA LENTE.
NOrttuabeTtdHd. Penn, July %, 1877.