The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-08-10
What Does the School Teach?

tory school, in fixing it's worth is the
course of study which the school offers.
And here there may be difference Of
opinion on the part of those who advo-
cate the most recent theories of teach
ing boys. For our part, remembering
that the vast majority of boys who
enter these preparatory schools will in
time go to college, we believe in the
strict maintenance of the classical
standards. In other words as we see
it, the curriculum Of the preparatory
school is largely to be determined by
the thoroughness with which it teaches
the boys reading, writing, arithmetic,
grammar, Latin and English literature.
The day has happily passed when the
textbooks on any of these subjects are
as hopelessly dry as they were a genera
ton ago. The fundamentals, in fact,
have been humanized to the needs of
the age, and have been presented in a
fashion that renders them more attrac-
tive; but they are still as important as
they ever were, and as essential to the
training of youth. When all is said and
done, true culture and refinement must
rest on knowledge of the classics.
Without this, no boy can ever hope
either to know or to appreciate the
beauties of the English language. To
him is sealed forever the majesty Of
the mother tongue, the imagery Of the
poets, the illusions of our great mas
tiers. The school, therefore, which
teaches these things is the school which
the average parent may safely intrust
with the training of his boy
In the same way, the homely old
subjects of reading, spelling and arith-
metic must be taught, and we'll taught,
if the preparatory school is to meet the
needs of the day 1t is often alleged,
and sometimes with reason, that we
live in an age of bad spoilers, and that
our schools in striving to build the
educational cornice Of flashy informa-
ton have neglected to lay the founda-
ton. If this be true, there is a just
demand for the proper emphasis upon
the three RS" a demand that our
schools teach the boys to write an
intelligent essay, grammatical letter.
a paper free from errors of spelling.
Every parent should test the school to
which he proposes to send his boys by
these homely Standards
Again, the curriculum of the school
should be strong in rhetoric, compost
ton and English literature, for it has
the golden opportunity Of first showing
to the developing boy the great heritage
of literature which is at his command.
The boy, be it remembered, comes to
school with but the haziest ideas of
what literature is. If he has read at
all, he has seen chance references to
the giants of our prose and poetry, but
he knows nothing of their lives or their
writings. When he is twelve, or there
abouts, he is taken by the hand so to
speak, and led into the great portrait
gallery of the masters. He is taught
to identify the faces he has seen, and
is taught the story of the men and Of
their contribution to the English
language. To change the figure, he is
carried to a mountain top and has
pointed out for him the great landscape
Of literature from the Beowulf to
Francis Thompson. If rightly guided,
he will love the mountain top; if pre-
JUDGED at the outset, he will never
wish to scale the heights. What
impression will be his, for instance, if
he is told the story Of English polemics
and is forthwith given Burke's speech
on reconciliation to read? Understand
it. he cannot; digest it, he will not. The
result will inevitably be distaste for
literature. To cite another case, if he