Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin
*Starred Review* The old-fashioned termgrammar schooloriginally designated a school that taught the classical curriculum of Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Simmons imparts much grammar- school history in this brief for reviving the methodical teaching of the two "dead" languages. He traces classical education from the rhetorician Isocrates through its institutional realization during the Renaissance and its efflorescence in nineteenth-century Britain and America, to its decline as modern democracies extended schooling to all, and teaching lost its commitment to the transmission of culture that is liberal, humanistic education. This history lesson, peppered with endorsements of classical Greek and Latin by great writers, scientists, and statesmen, is keenly interesting, but it is just substantiation for the argument for reviving the grammar school that is the book's raison d'etre. There are two major grounds for learning Greek and Latin, Simmons says, one cultural, one formative. The former is a loser, he thinks, plausibly weakened by the counterargument that translations transmit classical culture as well. The argument that studying the old, hard languages produces habits of mind that facilitate learning other subjects; fosters mutual understanding and appreciation among the students; helps students later to negotiate other complicated systems, such as institutions; and increases personal satisfaction--that is the winner, though Simmons concedes few will support it in these egalitarian times. A book that makes one feel more intelligent for having read it.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved