Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-08
Larln aim enc PublIe sehool..

latin i'm she Public schools.
The School Board at q recent
meeting had the very important sub
ject Of Latin as taught in the city I
schools under discussion and, though |
it was treated in only a discursive (
manner without any formal action
taken upon it, the sentiment OF the !
directors was so evidently unani-
nous that their future action will
in all probability he guided by it.
1t was not the study of the ancient
languages generally that was dis
cussed; on this subject there would
probably have been difference of
opinion. We are among those who
believe that the abolition of Greek
and Latin in our universities a. q
basis for the education of profession
al men would be a great misfortune
10 the nation, while others are salts
fled that it would be a decided adj
vance in the practical utility of the
instruction there given. But the
conversation did not take this ex-
tensive range; it was limited to the
expediency of teaching Latin in the
particular schools over which the
Board exercises authority, and the
Judgment of the whole Board was
manifestly unanimous in the neg
alive.
As it was with ourselves that the
discussion originated, we think it
we'll to define briefly the reasons
for our opinion. The great majority
of scholars attending our public
schools leave them before they are
sixteen years old, and many at
fourteen, and few begin the study of
Latin before they are between four
teen and fifteen. 1t is therefore an
exception when more than a year or
a year and half is given to Latin.
The consequence is that the average
scholar has attained a pretty good
grounding in the grammar and can
construct a few simple sentences,
and possibly bungle through chap
terof Cesar, and then quits the study
forever.
We are aware that there are
teachers who rush their scholars
through accidence and syntax, Cse-
sar, Virgil, Cicero and Livy in the
same length Of time, but we well
know what sort of scholars that
makes and desire none such to
emerge from our public schools.
Now the argument for retaining
the ancient languages in education
is that a degree of mental culture
otherwise unattainable is acquired
by the study of a grand and polished
literature such as that of Greece and
Rome, and that their exquisite
finish in expression is all the more
appreciated by studying them in an
acquired language and making the
effort to express the same ideas i'm
the vernacular: to all of which we
heartily assent. But boy who has
just mastered the grammar of the
language and can toll painfully
without help through half a dozen
lines of Caesar and stops there cannot
be said to have got even a taste of
ancient literature. He quits the
subject just ut the time when he
might acquire such a benefit. and
the many weary hours he has de-
voted to declensiOns and conjuga-
tions and rules of syntax have pro-
duced no more fruit than if the
thing had never been commenced.
All this time and labor has been
wasted which might have been APP
piled to a more useful study; and
that time is needed for another
study.
At present no instruction is given
in our public schools on the subject
of mechanical philosophy, and yet
that is a study which would be Of
direct practical benefit to every boy
and girl taught there, still il
cannot be introduced unless some
other study is dispensed with. We
are well acquainted with every item
of the teaching now done and state
not as an opinion but as an estab.
lished fact, that not one subject has
more time given to it than is abso
lutely necessary, and several are
seriously embarrassed through being
hurried through in a space of time
insufficient for their thorough treat
ment. 1t will hardly be contendeC
that arithmetic, grammar, geogra
ply, history or bookkeeping coulC
any one of them be dispensed with
and Latin is the only other which
is in question. 1t is therefore LatiT
or Philosophy, one or the other; W.
pronounce decidedly in favor o
Philosophy.
The question need not be decided
before next June, as it is not pro
posed to alter the course now in us
before then; but we wish TO keep i
before our readers, as, whatever /
done, it is very desirable that tn,
action of the Board should be sus
tanned by the opinion of those inter
ested i'm the schools.
I Tennessee Pioneer.
It was daybreak on the fIth o
May, 1885, that two well-dresset
gentlemen appeared in small
grove about two miles south o