The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-06-11
CLASSICAL VERSUS
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
OcaIa High School Valedictory, 1920
MISS WINNIE GORDON

A4AAOhO " AANANiIA \iCISDO&N
Perhaps no phase of social activity
has undergone so radical a develop
ment in modern times as that of edu-
cation. The ideal has come to be
more and more progressive. Educa-
ton no longer regards itself as cOn-
fined to the task of fitting the child to
live contentedly, but consciously la
bo1s to inspire the young to strive for
better conditions and to prepare them
to obtain these. Education no longer,
as in ancient times, aims to train the
individual merely in the interest of
society nor, as in medieval and COM
paratively modern times, for individ-
ual culture or development, but
rather for what may be called social
efficiency. The subject of education
has been affected by all these modifi-
cations in aim. To the religious, eth
| ical and cultural training toward
which attention was formerly almost
solely directed, there has been added
vocational training, along both pro-
| fessional and industrial lines. Argu-
! ing that Latin and Greek are no long
er living languages, the advocates of
practical training are inclined to treat
! the classics with increasing contempt.
The old and ever-increasing ques-
ton of the value of the classics and of
cultural, as cOntrasted with practical
education, has been revived. Despite
the rush and push of practical train
ing for quick and concrete accomplish
ment, we find the feeling still strong
today that the old ways of gaining
culture and mental discipline-to say
nothing of the charm of association
ever present in properly directed in
timacy with the past-are still de-
Tended by men Of taste and wisdom.
In the great English effort for recon-
struction the need of the culture and
the training that is acquired through
a classical education properly COM
bired with scientific and practical
courses is assumed and arguments ad
duced to that effert. From cOmpar-
ative statistics of students success
the conclusion is drawn that for the
all-round training of the citizen "the
claim of the classics to hold the pre-
mier place has not yet been shaken"
the value of a broad and humanistic
training as a basis for work in other
fields than the classics or literature"
A broad general scheme is presented,
science and literature, the usual Eng
lish branches and foreign languages;
the technical and the cultural should
be combined, it is urged, in the earlier
stages, and a choice of thorough and
sensible specialization provided for
at the right stage of advance. Thus
may best be obtained, it is held. the
prime object, ''the training of human
beings in mind and character as citi-
bens of free country" 1t is appar-
emily not because of tradition, but
as part of a new movement for recon-
shutting civilization and setting high
standards that we find just now COM
ing from different quarters plea for
: fair play for the classics.
: One reason why Latin has been
scorned in the past is not only be-
cause it is dubbed drudgery but be-
cause of the mediocre results from
: its study. But there should be no
mediocre results. How anyone can
approach the tongues and literature
OF the old Greeks and Romans with
tanything but enthusiasm passes com
prehension, and yet there are people
who do so approach this study. The
past, they claim, has little to teach u.s.
for we are twentieth century Ameri-
cans. What have we to do with by
gone times and methods? The only
thing that we need. they add, is a
brand new culture of our own.
This of course is a ridiculous stand
point. And yet William II. asserted
it in an address nine years ago when
he declared:
I'VE must educate young Germans
and not young Greeks and Romans
We must depart from the basis which
has stood for centuries, the old mon
astic education Of the middle ages, IN
which Latin was the standard and 4
little Greek"
If nothing else, the issue of the
war has taught US that the emperor
was wrong in this as in some other
assumptions They have been sent
to the rear by the French, whose min
lister of public instruction proclaimed
four years ago:
classical culture should remain the
object of our ardent study. even if it
were only for the reason that it has
transmitted to French thought the
greater part Of the ideas for which
we are now fighting"
Well has it been said, Except the
blind forces of nature there is moth