Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-11-07
Latin in Our School.

StuuN ~ lSllln Is not more CNIOOr-
aged IN cur Public School Wears
back when We made no pretention
~ have u High School in any
sense ot the word, il was possible
to have our children commence
Latin II we desired Il, but now
when the request is made -"rherc
is not time; it is hard study; the
class would be too small. We
hint that q good deal OF time has
been, and is spent on a small class.
We fully believe that with zeal
and interest on the part of the
teacher, sufficiently largo class
could he formed, as was done in
years past to justify using the
time,
| AS for the difficulty Of learning
Latin we know il is difficult study,
50 is music or arithmetic, hut that
does not deter the pupil from un-
dcrtaking the task. All will agree
that with any Of these it is best to
'hX the rudements while the pupil
is young. Our worthy principal
says he had class in Latin year
or SO age, but for want of interest
or some unknown cause, il died out.
We assert and believe that all our
citizens who expect to give their
children anything like n liberal ed
ucation, will agree that il is good
thing to have them know some,
thing of this dead language that
still lives i'll SO many torms--in
science, poetry and all kinds Of lit
crature.
OF all the foreign hordes that in
vaded Britain ages ago the Ro-
mans or latins only brought n lam
guage that had attained any thing
like perfection, and it has ever
since bcautiiicd and adorned the
English-our own good English
that il good enough alone for all
the American people TO speak, and
il is beginning to be believed thai
il is the only modern language that
should he taught in our public
] schools in order the better to con
sohdate our many peoples into one
i nation.
We demand that our boys study
Latin TO prepare them for the Uni
/ versity or College. This seems to
be the object Of the routine Of the
! High School, therefore We wonder
at the want Of interest in having
good classes in this branch. We
might wish our children TO COM
mence this study if they never
have other advantages than the
! High school affords.
A school system that is not hcxi-
bic enough TO meet the reasonable
wishes of parents, in some particu-
lars, must be radically wrong.
According to rcscntappcarnnces
not one per cent. Of our scholars
will ever graduate in the High
School, to say nothing of the tIniyer-
sity, which most are likely never TO
see.
That il IL not unusual for High
Schools 70 have n standard high
enough to include Latin, IL evident
if we look Mt the schools Of our own
and other States. For instance, n
young man who was prepared for
college in Lancaster, Grant county,
graduated at Beloit, is now classical
teacher in the High School Of
Mount Claire, New Jersey.
We will hardly admit that our
children are not equal in intellect
at least with that the youth Of
other towns; therefore il certainly
cannot be amiss - desire that they
pursue such studies and in such a
way as shall make them equal in
scholarship 70 any other
II there il not time or sufficient
interest with the present corps Of
teachers, would it not be advisable
on the part Of the Board Of Educa-
ton 70 provide d competent teacher
70 conduct this very desirable
branch Of knowledge. ~