New-York tribune., 1919-10-15
Dead Language
(From an article IN School By
Clyde r. Jcfords, president of
the High School Teachers As
soclntlom Of Ncav York;
UNFORTUNATELY the teacher Of

r UNFORTUNATELY the teacher Of
classics is too often the kind
Of person least qualified to
adapt ancient language to modern
environment. Teachers as a whole are
VIGOROUSLY conservative, and special
lists in Latin and Greek are likely to be
the worst of the lot in that rcspect
The teacher who presents Latin to-dav
with the methods and purposes that
obtained in English schools a century
ago is probably the worst enemy clas-
steal study has, and if Latin is
switched off into the same rusty side
track with Greek in secondary educa-
ton it will be chiefly because Latin
teachers have failed to make the re.
adjustment demanded by the present
strategic strength and Weaknesses of
their position.
Several adverse conditions also are
preventing the American pupil from
getting the full benefit of the practical
training possible in classical work.
Salaries paid to teachers of classics
are no longer sufficient to attract the
best class of college graduates to
teaching positions. This, together with
the craze for rapid advancement now
dominating large schools, has caused a
lowering of the standard Of education
and a consequent tendency to follow
the line of least resistance. This leads
to ponies" and "cribbing," shortened
and cheapened curriculum, overcrowdcd
classes and overpromotion. A COM
parlson of our examinations with those
OF English schools fifty years ago
shows this deterioration very clearly.
We are inclined to train for facts
rather than power, to harvest the chaf
and lose the grain
Such methods will no longer satisfy
the demands Of modern public educa-
ton, which is becoming intensely
practical and direct. Educational lead
ers are breaking away from the tradi-
tlons OF the past and are evolving a
curriculum designed to satisfy the cdu
cational needs of the average pupil in
the average American school of the
twentieth century. Obviously these
needs arc not the same as those of
the gentleman's son in the private
school of the eighteenth century. from
which our present school curriculum
was derived and which our classical
syllabi still follow to a great extent.
AS result of this failure to readiust.
Greek is obsolescent, if not obsolete.
in secondary schools and many col
leges. Latin is losing ground gradu-
ally and will soon follow Greek unless
its supporters can force themselves to
disregard ancient traditions and pre-
sent the subject from the standpoint
or modern American needs and values
in education.
long step in bringing Latin work
up to date has been taken in the new
state syllabus for New York, which
puts the English side of the work en-
phatically in the foreground. The text
to be read is longer but simpler than
before and selected for content and in
terest rather than stylistic or gram
matical features. These changes make
1t possible for the progressive teacher
to develop the one universally impor-
tant power which classical training can
and should give the single factor
which outweighs all the others to-
gether in educational value-auency in
expressing complex ideas in clear,
ldiomatic English. The boy trained to
make rapid, offhand analysis of a
complicated proposition, rearranging it
into logical sequence and presenting it
concisely in correct and forcible lam
guage, has an acquisition which is of
immense value to any man in any ac-
tivity almost every day of his life. 1t
is especially valuable in all cases where
leadership and executive ability are re-
qurcd.
Such training can be and constantly
.s secured through the right kind of
classical training under the right kind
of teachers. 1t is exactly the kind of
training that is provided by rapid oral
> translation of classics when properly
conducted. The pupil has before him
long periodic sentence which he is to
represent in English. 1t the teacher
can and will compel his pupils to make
a clear, concise, idiomatc translation
and can cover enough ground to afford
plenty of practice, no better drill in
rapid oral English composition can be
devised. No one will question the
value of training boy to think and
talk on his feet, to get to the point
, and get there quickly and to say neithe,
more nor less than he wishes to say
, Upon the successful development OF
this feature Of classical training de-
pends very largely the future of tn,
classics in secondary education In thi,
2 country