New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Edmund Burke in School
Cancellation Speech Still in Favor
With New York Regents

WIN EfCW - YIN INC&tHlo
To. the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: 1t is amusing TO read in a
Tribune editorial that Burke's speech
upon conciliation used to be forced
upon New England children in the
stern old times-twenty years ago"
If you will consult the latest list of
college entrance requirements TO
1926 and the latest syllabus of The
New York Regents, not to speak of the
syllabus of the New York City high
schools, you will find that the cruel
conditions that you deplore are still
continuing.
children" (if high school pupils in
the last year of their course come
under that, terml ars still required to
study Burke's speech. And a good
thing that they are. 1t Is hard to
find in the whole field OF argumenta-
tive literature a work that serves as
better model or that affords better
drill in thought, or that is more in
spring to patriotic citizenship.
OF course, the book is not studied
as it once was, with insistence that
every student master every word and
allusion and be able to reconstruct the
outline Of every cog and wheel Of the
complicated engine of proof. The
modern high school takes the book in
broader spirit and aims to make the
student use 1t for more than mere ma
terial for mental exercise. There Is an
attempt, and 1t often succeeds, to make
the modern American boys grasp
Burke's ideas regarding government
and to feel the inspiration Of his
! ideals.
I, for one, hope that the book will
continue to be studied. Possibly some
pupils may learn TO hate Burke.
feel sure that a great many more will
learn to respect not only his in
tellectual power and his logical skill
but also his love OF justice and his
rich texture Of philosophy and imagi-
nation.
Some hold we should never present
to pupils the best in literature, for
fear we teach them TO hate it. There
are pupils apparently the writer Of
the editorial in question was once one
of them) who instinctively detest
whatever teachers tell them is good.
Fortunately, not all students are Of this
unhappy mentality. There must be
] many who feel that they got from the
study Of Burke in high school clear
perception chat an orator may be more
than gesticulating windbag and that
a leader in political thought might be
of different type than some that we
have seen near home.
Can The Tribune possibly mean that
Burke, Shakespeare and Dickens
should be withheld from the younger
elevated temptingly as forbidden fruit?
Possibly, if Mr.. Summers crusades
develop, this ideal may be yet attained.
Burke will be tabooed as "Britisher"
and Dickens and Shakespeare will be
searched with a sinful delight for the
naughty references that put them on
the black index.
Seriously, 1t seems better to take the
risk of antagonizing a few and pre-
senting these great men and their best
works to our young people, presenting
them not dryly, but humanity and SYM
pathetically, and applying their lessons
to the problems of the present day.
am sure that many of the most modern
teachers in the most modern high
schools would look with grave doubt
upon any suggestion TO Danish Burke's
speech from the required list. Why
mot consult some of them before re-
garding the matter as settled? H. B.
Brooklyn, Sept. is, 1922.