Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1911-07-29
SATURDAY, JULY 20. 1911.
CLASSICAL IDEA IN EDUCATION.

Amherst college, en- institution that
has always stood for the higher ideals
of education, has definitely chosen q
program entirely at variance with
modern educational tendencies. Am
herst announces that after 1914, the
degree of b. S. will not be given by
that college. Only the degree A. p
will be given, and that solely fol-
sufficient and satisfactory training in
the classics. Four years of Latin will
be required for admission to the col
legse, and a reading knowledge of at
least one classical language and one
modern language besides English will
be requisite of the A. p. degree.
During the past twenty years, voca
tional training has become the estab-
lished rule i'm all our great colleges
and universities. Special courses OF
study and special lines of training
for special work have been developed
almost without number, The old idea
OF classical education, as the foun.
datioa of culture and intellectual
strength, has practically disappeared
Amherst seeks to restore it. Here
after she will mot turn out civil en-.
gineers, mining engineers and me
chanical engineers. She will not turn
out half-baked entomologists, agri
culturists, lawyers, physicians and
ministers. 1t will be her aim to give
her students a thorough training in
the classics, to cultivate in them a
taste for he higher and better things
of literature, of history and the arts
Amherst will give intellectual train.
iEg entirely apart from the mercantile
and Industrial uses to which such
training can be put. In other words
the exaltation of money seeking and
of money earning will cease to be the
prime object of Amherst education
development of mind, communion
with the wisdom of the past, stimula
ton of real intellectual culture, will
take the place of training for money
unking pursuits.
This is old fashioned. In some de
gree it is barking back to the
methods of our fathers, but the In
telligencer believes that there is room
for many such institutions as Amherst
proposes to be. Greek. Latin and the
higher mathematics as intellectual ex
ercises will never be surpassed, Ia;
an Introduction to the delights of the
worlds best literature, the study Of
ancient and modern languages is
without a rival. The man whose edu
cation has given him a taste fol
higher reading and for the best in
literature has gained something thai
may make more for his happiness ant
welfare than training in a profession
or a trade.
In this money making age, we are
prone to lay too much account upon
the things that help make money
Not all men can be great money
makers, and it is we'll they cannot
hundred years hence the names oil
Cur great CAPTAINS of industry, om
financiers and railroad kings viii have
passed away, but William Shakes
peare, John Milton, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry w. Loagfellow AMI
Mark Twain will be honored and re
yerad so long as the English language
is spoken and read. Why has not the
Gast quarter of century developed
in the United States some one mar
like Edgar Allen Poe, Henry w. Long
fellow or William Cullen Bryant
Where are the successors to the Con
cord School Where are our grear
masters of poetry and of fiction
Where are our teachers of philosophy
They have been sacrificed to tn,
craze for the dollar. Our schools and
universities have ceased to create the
atmosphere necessary for theiI
growth Amherst has definitely turnet
back to the old days and in doing SC
renders splendid public service
Wheeling Intelligencer
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