New-York tribune., 1883-11-04
THE STUDY OF THE CLASSICS.
DISCUSSION AT A PRINCETON LIBRARY MLh MLhliNu-
VIEWS OF PRESIDENT McosH AND PRofESsoi
WEST.

N
VIEWS OF PRESIDENT McosH AND PROFESSOR
WEST.
IrpoN AN oCc AsfoNAL CORRESPONDENT or THE TR1BUNEl
PRINCETON, n. j., Nov. 1.-Dr. McCoshs
library meeting on Monday evening was very largely NJ
tended The subject under discussion, "Classlcal il
,pq-Its Opponents it's Reasonableness, IFS integrity
was one of importance to both professors and undergrad
mates and the interest manifested In the mceuhe was
great The principal speaker was froleSSor hHuio"
west who made strong plea and occupied mort 'an On
hour with his remarks The following Is an ou'no VI ~
arguments: .
Iwsh to speak Of classical training as part
~ a liberal education and in doing shall examine the
objections commonly urged against IT, state 'e osi'o
argument in its favor and especially plead lor is ono
ntegrity-Greek as well Latin The hrst source Oh
hostility TO cassca training comes from men OF aehVe
rather than contemplatlve temperament Ihey value
education chiefly it prepares Immediately Tor some
spocc calling and are themselves absorbed In the
civil and commercial activities OF life that they value
only what bears obviously in that direction The second
source Is from those who have never really studied the
classics An objection from their standpoint If good at
ALL Is good against any other study they may have failed
to appreciate from want Of proper teaching application
and oapacity Herbert Spencer, OF the most pro-
nounced enemies of classical culture does not profess to
read classical authors except through tanslaons, ana
in this respect many college resemble Mr. Spencer
Third there is opposition from the moncy-making spirit
of the age To-day the obvious the effective the real
stic the perversey vulgar nursed on the worship OF
gross material spendor and at best covered with skin
deem veneer of affected cultivation is too apt to crowd
ont the thoughtful and refined and smother 10 death the
heroic The miser never appreciate or love horace
and Plato Again. many are hostile because they DehcVo
the study Of English modern languages-say frehch
and German-should be substituted l answer that we
do not need 70 displace the classics either or both In
order 20 study our own and modern languages. We
learn our mother tongue from parents and cannot
prevent ourselves from doing There room Tor the
classics and modern languages provided methods OF
teaching are accurate and philosophical
There three cOgcnt reasons for guarding the cas
sjc First they ac nmeasuraby superior to all modern
languages for the purposes Of mental discipline, by
virtue of their very regular and highly complicated
structure. Second, modern language Is likely 10 DC
used consistently for training For the study cSpechy
in French requires great expenditure OF time III mas
tcring the dicule of pronunciation and easily runs
into installing merGfacity of use which requires only an
inferior mental effort for mastery of the language
itself Third the modern languages which serve for cui-
ture hayc yet stood the test of long peImanehce
which classical literature has endured for now more
than thirty centuries Shakespeare mas % Pcen TS%s t
by only dozen generations WhllS h2hei le Te o o'
hOnoICd in every world renowned epic since his time
bas ahcady led the way TO literary immortality Tor
hundred generations and Plato, Virgil and Horace follow
not far behind" .....,.. .. A.
spenccrs arguments offered TO prove ihat te NY sCa
sciences more important ana useih than z GaSoca
II
practically crippled by separating from creek 70
demonstrate this point Professor west Appealed 70 inc
educational experience Of Germany The Gymnasium
strict classical school and the Rca-GyInnaslin, whcIc
the is substantially the same except tat Greek
is droppcd from the curriculum. stand side by side III
March, 1882 the Prussan Ministry of Education issued
a circular prescribing changes IN this mode OF nstTnc
tiOn giving reasons deduCed from the results OF lDe
previous twenty-five years The tenor OF this circular
was that dividing the Interests of the Real-Gyinnh
sum thus increasing subjects III natural sciences ad
pr0yed decidedly disadvanageOuS so much so tbat bc
Expenditure OF time longer justified And fuI-
tb6r bows coming into the Univ erses from the Gym
nasia uniformly rank higher than those from the Real
Gymnasa, - IA, q ,.,. .o, ,,o,
90 Let it rather begin TO come to tram To elevate 10
inspire II was born in the morning OF history my mo
ogv tabled that its heroes the children OF lmnOria
and the records of humanity promise 10 insure tiht
claim TO the latest ages 1t sChOOled antiquity; IL mas
been the historic safeguard for freedom OF th0ngh u
awakened the modern minds II contains the most pre-
clos literary treasures of the It's cOrporcal Olln
the nnceu civilization has persisted from our sight It's
material works of art survive only IN the crnblng col
uun the ruined temple, the statue insccuTcly housed
i'm some Inuscum against the NandalE of future time. But
ts best monument is its htcrnturc, multiplied thou
sud-fold by printers ant ana TINS sun lclls 10 chhi-
cngc mankind i'm charmed accents
Tie discussion then became general Dr MctOll sit
his own observation had been that students III LAIN ana
Greek as rule eXcclled nOn-cassica students IN thc
sciences and philosophy