272 CLASSICS IX SCHOOLS. 



Matriculation ? Does that standard afford a sufficient guarantee 

 that those who have succeeded in passing have reached the stage 

 which enables them to reap the full benefit from the University 

 courses in Classics ? 



This is a most serious question, seeing that, if it has to be 

 answered in the negative, it cannot but have a deleterious effect 

 on the character of University teaching. In fact, it would compel 

 the University to do the work of the secondary school, thereby 

 lowering the level and frustrating the purpose of the highest educa- 

 tion in the land. 



Still, I am afraid, the answer must be that in this respect also 

 the position is far from satisfactory. And how could it be other- 

 wise, after what I have said about the study of Classics in our 

 schools ? For, after all, the standard of an examination must 

 depend to a great extent on the average standard attained by the 

 candidates who present themselves for such examination. 



The examination in Latin is divided into two sections : Section 

 A, comprising translation of passages from set work, with questions 

 on the subject-matter and on special points of grammar occurring 

 in the same, and Section B : on Grammar, Unseen translation, and 

 Composition. With Section B I have not much fault to find, 

 but as regards Section A the main question is, wherein does the set 

 work consist ? Looking through the University Calendars of the 

 last ten years or so, we find that it generally consists of one book 

 of Caesar or one of the easier works of Cicero, as De Senectute or 

 De Amicitia, and in addition to this of some 150 lines from Ovid 

 or Virgil. 



Now, can any one seriously maintain that this amount of reading, 

 even if we add a little practice in unseen translation, forms a 

 sufficiently broad foundation for a LTniversity course in Classics ? 

 Even if we were to add the amount required for Classics in the 

 Intermediate examination, the standard appears still ridiculously 

 low in the case of students of Literature or Divinity. I do not 

 believe that it would pass muster in any European country, 

 especially when we notice that in Greek the range is still narrower. 



We find, therefore, after investigation, that the state of matters 

 with regard to the study of Classics in our schools is far from 

 satisfactory, inasmuch as the Matriculation standard which forms 

 the goal of those studies is too low for their proper prosecution in 

 the University, while, on the other hand, it proves not seldom for 

 our schools too hard a task to attain to even that low standard 

 in consequence of the heterogeneous elements which are combined 

 in the Matriculation classes. 



It is not difficult to see that, if this state of matters continues, 

 whatever else may flourish and prosper under Union, the study of 

 the immortal art and literature of the ancients is doomed to lan- 

 guish and decay. And I feel convinced that every one here will 

 agree with me that it will be an evil day for South Africa when, 

 by allowing such a state of matters to endure, it should sever itself 

 from the fountain-head of the world's culture. At the same time 

 we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the times have changed 

 and that we must change with them. 



