The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-08-29
Shan Education.
CHARLES FEkSeIs ADAMS, JR.. oS TIE
FUflLlTY or THR DEAD LANGUAGES

. CHARLES FRANCE ADAMS, JR.. OF TIL
r FUFlEITY or THR DEAD LANGUAGES.
n CAMBRIDGE. June 2S.-CAarles Fran
! eis Adams. Jr.. In his asldresS befor,
! the Phi Beta kappz Society to-day
{ attacked the system which now prevail,
! IN the colleges Of making Greek and
[ Latin the basis Of liberal education
: He was graduated from Harvard in 1886
/ OF the education he received he said:
I such training as | got useful for the
struggle. | got after instead of before
! graduation. ami it came hard; while
never hare been able-and now. no mat
, ter how long | may live, shall never be
able "a overcome some great dis2dYan-
tages which the saperstitious and wrong
theories and worse practices of my alma
mater inflicted upon me. And not on
me alone. The same may be said Of nv
contemporaries, as have observed them
insuecess and failure What was true in
this respect of the college of thirty wears
ago is, / apprehend, At least partially
true of the college of to-day. Il fails
properly to lit graduates for the work
they have got TO do in the life that
awaits them.
The college fitted rs for this active.
busting, haFd-hitting, many -tongued
| world, caring nothing for authority
and little for the past, but full Of its
living thought and living issues, in
tdealing with which there was no man
who did not stand in pressing and
constant need Of every possible prepara-
tioa asa resgec y asapwleslsua and exact
tnde and thoroughness-the poor old
college prepared US 10 play our parts
in this world by compelling US, directly
and indirectly, 10 devote the best part
of our school lives to acquiring con-
! fesSedly superficial knowledge of two
dead languages.
We are living in this world of to-day;
and it is the business of the college to
fit men for it. Does she do it? As I
have said, my own experience of thirty
years ago tells me that she did not do il
then. The facts being much the same,
do not see how she can do it now. II
seems te me she starts from a radically
wrong basis. 1t is, touse plain language, |
basis Of fetch Worship, in which the |
real and the practical is systematically |
sacrificed 70 the ideal and theoretical
Latin ! will not stop 10 contend over |
That is small matter. Not only is it |
comparatively simple language, but /
apart from its literature-foT which / /
cannot myself profess to have any great
admiration-it has its modern uses. Not |
only is it directly the mother tongue of |
Of all Southwestern Europe, but it has |
by common consent been adopted in |
scientific nomenclature. Hence there |
are reasonswhythe educated man should |
have al least an elementary knowledge |
of Latin. That knowledge also can be /
acquired with no great degree of labor. !
To master the language would be anoth- /
er matter, but in these days few think |
of mastering it.
How many students during the last
thirty years have graduated from Har- |
ward who could read Horace and Taci- |
tus and Juvenal, as we read Goethe and |
Monmsen and Heine? If there have
been ten, | certainly do not believe |
there have been a score. This it is to |
acquire 4 language. \ knowledge of its |
rudiments is a wholly different thing; |
and with q knowledge of tee rudiments I
of Latin as a requirement or admission |
to college am not here TO quarrel. Not |
50 Greek.
The study of Greek, and speak from
the unmistakahle result OF nay own in- |
dividual experience in active life, as
well IS from that of long-continued |
family experience-the study of Greek |
in the way it is additionally insisted |
upon a. the chief requirement to enter |
ing college is n positive educational
wrong. 1t has already wrought great
individual and general injury, and is
now working it. Ii has been productive
of no compensating advantage. 1t is a
superstition.
| would rather myself be familiar
with German tongue and its literature
than he equally familiar with the Crock
would unhesitatingly make same
choice for my child. What have said
of German as compared with Greek /
will also say of French as compared with
Latin. On this last point | have no
! question. Authority and superstition
! apart, ! am indeed unable TO see how an
intelligent man, having any considera-
/ bic acquaintance with the two litera-
| lures, can, as respects either richness or
beauty, compare the Latin with the
French; while, as a worldly accomplish
ment,. were it not for the fetch wor-
ship, in these days of universal travel
! the man would be properly regarded as
out of his mind who preferred to be able
to read an ode of Horace rather than to
feel at home in the accepted neutral Ian
guage of all refined society.
The worship even of the classical
fetch draweth to a close; and / shall
hold that / was not myself sacrificed
wholly in vain it what / have said here
may contribute to 50 shaping the policy
of Harvard that it will not much lon
ger use its prodigioGs influence toward
indirectly closing for its students, as it
closed for me, the avenues to modern
life and living thought.