The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-08-21
VALUE OF THE CLASSICS
IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

IL The fUBL1C 0OnOOLo
A friend Of ours, a man unusually
well read and one who takes to liter
allure ais duck to water, finding
solid comfort in reading books that
the average boy or girl will not study
except under compulsion. has sub
mitted to as book value of the
Classics, 1t puts up among other
things an eloquent argument on the
value OF Latin. which as our readers
know we have always maintained
should not be taught in public schools.
The book is mainly made up of
quotations from men who have high
standing in literature and have dis
tinguished themselves in statesman
ship and the professions, some cap
tains Of industry and a few CONNER
cial men. Nearly everything in it is
we'll written But we do not see in it
anything coming from a farmer or
mechanic--the men who if our civili-
cation crumbled would miss it least
and most quickly and efficiently begin
to replace tin who, while proud
to see their children keep up or lead
their classes are ceaselessly worried
over the cost of the books and the
teachers who instruct the children in
so much knowledge they can't use.
There are certain studies in our
public schools that all children should
be we'll taught in. They are the es-
sentials reading, writing, arithme-
tic, grammar, history and geography.
.4AadhasaEe think, typewriting should
be added 10 these, for the business
World is beginning to stop reading
handwriting. We think that every
Mid should be instructed in these
adies--that they should be much
he carefully drilled in them than
49, are now. Then, if the state,
after carefully instructing the chill
dren in the essentials, has money
enough left. it.shaRld so invest it that
the. go h1Nh you'd have an OPP
eh studies as will
ING the most nee
|.AA aftt Ines of business,
is the most
hese trades and bust
NJ I'D be only what will help
the general public--a higher knowl-
edge of mathematics, stenography
and bookkeeping, the technology of the
blacksmith's forge and the carpen-
ter's bench, and with these should go
some daily practice in the early es-
sentials so that the boys and girls
would not forget to read and write
correctly while they were taking their
higher studies.
We fully realize the important of
Latin in literature and the profess
sions, but it is not worth the time to
learn it to the average man or wom-
an. For one thing, the boy or girl,
young man or woman, who really
takes an interest in Latin and learns
it so as to make intelligent use of it.
il an exception. The great majority
OF those into whose heads it rs ham
mered promptly forget it as soon as
they get out of school. The large
majority Of our boys have minds with
first Of all a mathematical tendency,
and at every step of their work they
meet some problem that requires cal
culation. Not so with Latin. We
suppose it Is a great comfort to a
highly educated man to be able sub
consciously to trace the Latin deri-
walton Of number of the words he
utters, but when the average citizen
says II should worry" he doesn't
even though he doesn't know whether
the root words of the sentence he has
used were FIRST planted on the Tiber
or the Elhe, or perhaps away back or
the banks Of the Indus.
This friend Of ours has studied
Latin and enjoyed it. So have the
men who contributed to the book we
are making our text-all the high
brows, IN fact, and beside a number
Of people, among them many teach
ers, who having been compelled to
learn Latin and keep in touch with il
have no sympathy with those who
find 1T difficult to learn, and this
bunch between them having the reins
Of education pretty much in their
hands continue year after year to
waste the peoples money and the
time Of the boys and girls. Our laws
at present demand that a scholar put
IN at least ten years at school, and
twelve II he or she passes thru high
school. But if our public school sys-
tenn was simplified. every boy and
girl could learn everything useful in
it by the time he or she was fifteen.
A teacher to whom we presented
this argument said IN Mortified
voice But you'd ruin our whole
high school system Really, we don't
think our ligh school system IS worth
saving A great majority of our BOYS
and girls are ais effectually shut out
from il as tho they were in China. a
man has to be tolerably well off be-
fore hS@ children can attend hich