The Washington herald., 1907-12-16
On the School Trouble.
LOUIS P. SHOEMAKER.


LolOG Inc washington Herald:
II DR.. Evermann would have taken in
consideration that others have access to
the same source, viz, President Eliot's
book, Educational Reforms" on which
he based his allegation that the great
American educator disapproved Of foreign
languages in the graded schools. he prob
ably would not have read in public the
quotation az he did
The following is the quotation in oues-
tion, read at the trial Of the superintend-
ent Of schools on December u, and Of
fered. as Or. Evermann stated, to show
that he had not misquoted DR.. Eliot. Of
Harvard. at a previous board meeting:
Shall we be told, as usual. that the
best way to learn English is TO study
Latin and Greek? The answer is that the
facts do not corroborate this improbable
hypothesis American youths in large
number study Latin and Greek but do
not thereby learn English. Moreover.
this hypothesis Is obviously inapplicable
TO the literatures. Shall we also be told.
as usual. that no linguistic discipline can
be got out of the study OF the native lam
guage2 How, then, was the Greek mind
trained in language Shall we be told
that knowledge Of English literature
should be picked up without systematic
effort? The answer is, fifst that as a
matter OF fact this knowledge is not
picked up by American youth and, sec
ondly. that there never was any good
reason 20 suppose that il would be. the
acquisition OF a competent knowledge of
English literature being not an easy. but
n lqhnriDYfC rf1l fv,c~
youth-not a matter Of entertaining read
ing, but Of serious study" (''EducationaI
Reforms" page S9)
DR.. Evermann has culled this quotation
from an article by President Eliot, en-
titled What Is a Liberal Education? -
published in the Century, June, 1884. and
republished in Educational Reforms. -
The article, OF course, deals with college
subjects only. as is seen from its title
(nobody supposes that a liberal" educa-
ton may be obtained In the elementary
school; the article, moreover, has a foot
note calling attention 10 the fact that
Johns Hopkins University has effectively
promoted the reforms herein advocated i"
The context of the lecture is a plea for
the equal value with Latin and Greek of
English. French and German. history. DO
litical economy. and natural science. The
which DR.. Evermann took his quotation
read as follows: 'The first subject which.
as I conceive, is entitled to recognition as
OF equal academic value or rank with
any subject now most honored is the
English" The point. then. of DIR. Ever
mann's quotation is merely that English
language and literature do give linguis-
tic discipline, not that greater disciplinary
results might not be had from compara-
tive study. Next to English President
Eliot claims a position of equality with
Latin and Greek for French and Ger
man, saying that a knowledge OF these
languages is Indispensable to the intelli
gent pursuit of almost every science and
profession beyond its elements
Now. since DR.. Evermann and his asso-
ciates on the board Of education cite Pres
ident Eliot's opinion as reason why they
object 10 the introduction Of foreign Ian
guage study in our graded schools. IL
might be interesting to know what are
the convictions Of this great American