Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-05-23
EDUCATIONAL.
An ARTICLE BY PROFESSOR w. W.
ANDERSON.
why Should Every High School
Scholar be Obliged to Take q
Thorough English Course?

the ACCESSIBILITY of English forming an es
sential and important part of every cours
in every school and college, except i,
schools intended for the special training o
those who either have, or should have pre-
yiously received at least q moderately lib
eral education. It is, however, only of lat
that English has received any recognition
as study in our secondary schools. As 70
the elementary schools, they seem yet inca
pable Of approaching the importance ant
disciplinary value Of the mother tongue
LinGley Murray has always had an army O
followers, and grammar of the most techni
cal character has formed prominent par
Of every school course. Another hobb,
has been the derivation Of words-a hobb,
ridden often yet by those who scorn Greei
and abhOr Latin. Scholars who knew
nothing Of Shakespeare or Milton, and Wit
were not quite sure whether Longfellov
was living poet or died thousand year
ago, could parse words and probably dia
gram a complex sentence in the most art
iStic style. Words separately, as individual
things, usurped the place OF lofty aud emo
bling thoughts. Ability to talk abou
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everything but use woods and to under
stand them when correctly used, has toe
long been the test of scholarship IN Eng
ish.
AS means to an end English should re-
ceive far more attention than it does The
object Of our schools is not to develop spe.
cialists in any one, or in several depart
ments. There comes q time when
it is perhaps advisable that the stu
dent should make a specially oil
some one study. 1t is safe tt
say, however, that that time does not
come during the years spent in the high
school, however soon it may come there
after. But however much importance We
may attach to any other study. We cannot
successfully impart instructions in that
study unless the scholar has a good com,
mand of language. We may think science
should receive special attention, or that
mathematics are Of most Importance Or
may cling to the timc-hOnored classics OF
Greece and Rome bat before we can sue
cessfully ride our hobby our scholars must
be able to understand good English. All
our earliest knowledge is obtained through
language spoken or written. Even in ma
turer years he who studies nature by the
use of eve and hand must still depend on
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Without sufficient vocabulary he cannot
formulate the reault Of his Investigations
in his own mind. much less communicate
them TO others.
Scholars enter our high schools with a
very limited vocabulary, and without abil-
ity properly to use the vocabulary. They
cannot make the progress they should be
cause they cannot read. They may be able
to pronounce the words, and may mechan-
ically give the rising and failing infection
in the most orthodox manner, but as a
rule they cannot grasp the ideas. It is
continually happening that scholars are at
stand-still IN mathematics, because the
language in which the problem or theOrem
is stated is beyond their comprehension.
1t is not that the problem in itself is pecu-
liariy intricate, bat the arrangement Of the
sentences, or the sOmeW hat unusual mean
ing given to the word, often brings them to
a halt. In history and in elementary
science the same thing perhaps more fire.
quently occurs. So in trgnslating from
Latin or Greek, the most nonsensical
renderings are often given, because the
scholars have not sufficient command Of
language TO enable them to select the right
word to give the exact meaning Of the
other in good English. In every branch
Ol STUDY 5tnOldlS iittL NllICulliEb
which they fail to master, not from stupid
ity or from immaturty OF mind, but be
cause they have not been trained to know
and rightly TO use their own language.
Even in our best schools. too many schol-
ars read only ss parrots; and in some high
schools, scholars enter apparently masters
of " stocks " and exchange and other
arithmetical lumber, yet unable to read
understandingly an ordinary passage Of
either poetry or prose. AS means, there
fore, to the pursuit of other studies they
should all be required to take full and
course in English. Without it
their progress and mental growth will be
much impaired, if not entirely hindered
As means of mental discipline, En-
glish is peculiarly valuable. To establish
this fully, would be to go over most of the
ground often traversed in behalf Of the
study of the ancient classics. AL the ad-
arising from the study OF the lat
ter cannot be claimed in an equal degree in
behalf of the study of English. But there
must be, to insure progress, the same care
full use OF the dictionary 10 obtain the true
of the words, and the same care
full analysis Of the thought TO be able 10 re-
produce It in other language. The effort to
fully grasp the meaning Of the author can
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bend his meaning and clearly to perceive
the strength and truth, or the weakness
and fallacy Of his conclusions the scholar
must read carefully, must select the various
thoughts presented, and must systematic
ally arrange them, if he would see at a
glance not only what these different
thoughts are but their interdependence and
logical connection. The effort to do this
keeps the mind on the alert, and the fire.
luency with which the effort must be
made, if full course in English IS re-
luired from all high-school scholars, tends
20 form habit Of analysing and system
ltically grouping the ideas OF every author
read. This habit aids in systematizing and
arranging the truths taught By science or
history, or whatever study is pursued.
The study of English, too, requires re-
search. In reading even the simpler
poems contained in the courses prescribed
~ preparatory work by the State UHiver-
.ity, reference must be continually made to
encyclopedias, biographies,
books of travel, etc. To pursue any course
IF reading requires reference to a wide
'ange of literature. The information thus
obtained IS valuable in itself The mind
stored with facts that largely in
iuence intellectual growth and increase
he ability to grasp new thoughts.
In this respect the study of English and
American authors is superior to nrathe-
natics or elementary science. A boy may
DC, for a boy, a good mathematician, or
nay have explored with profit the ap-
,roaches to one or more of the temples of
science, and yet be comparatively lacking
Il intelligence. 1t will be strongly devel-
,ped on one side, but dwarfed and stunted
n the other. The training he has received
S valuable as a mental discipline, and will
i'd him in the acquisition of that knowl-
dge which he needs to cope with his
elbows. His intercourse in life, however,
lnless he has been fayorsbly situated
Turing boyhood, must be rude shock. !
The busting energy, the complex motives
hat impel men to action, the shrewdness
hat foreseeS and takes advantages of the |
that startle and puzzle the
everything in life is apparently at
ariance with his previous training II |
equires no little effort to adapt himself to |
lis new environments. But he who has |
ad d liberal course of English goes out |
nto the world with a large fund of kno&l- |
dye bearing on every conceivable question. |
olitical or scientific, social or moral He |
as larger share of that intelligence that |
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