CLASSICS IN MODERN EDUCATION. 



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had not been used to contribute materials to education, or if the 

 curiosity of the young about the world in which they hve, their 

 country and its language, history, products, relations to other 

 countries, etc.. had not been encouraged, guided, satisfied by 

 instruction. Hence, to make room for these things, the time 

 given to classics had to lie cut down more and more. But, un- 

 fortunately, the cutting down was done in the wrong way. The 

 most valuable forms of classical study were surrendered, the least 

 valuable retained. The substance of thought and culture was 

 dropped, the preliminary struggles with language and grammar 

 remained. All that makes classics the toilsome grind for 

 which so many students hate it survived ; almost all that gives 

 fascination and interest, that feeds the imiagination and stimu- 

 lates the intellect, was abandoned. The result is that classical 

 studies have largely lost their appeal, and. propped up by com- 

 pulsion, drag on an artificial existence. And the worse is that. 

 even so, the average boy learns so little of either Greek or Latin 

 at school or college that it has hardly any educational value for 

 him at all. For we have sacrificed all that is best in the study 

 of the Classics. 



§ 14. We havCj then, to readjust our methods of teaching 

 the classics to the needs and ideals of modern education. We 

 have to cast out of our schools the classical languages in order 

 that we may re-introduce classical cnltitrc. The proper places 

 for the philological study of (Ireek and Latin, the training of 

 " scholars " in, the traditional sense of the word, are the Uni- 

 versities. There we can have a small number of experts and 

 specialists to be interpreters between the ancient and the modern . 

 mind. There we can encourage and endow the first-hand study 

 of the ancient languages. But, except for these special students 

 at the Lmiversities, let us drop the languages, and retain, or 

 rather re-introduce, the substance of classical' culture through 

 good translations and hand-books. The problem, then, is : Can 

 we retain tJie substance, and sacrifice tlie languages? Tn other 

 words, cannot the works of classical writers maintain an im- 

 portant and valuable place in modern education, // they are 

 studied in good translations, rounded out by an interpretation 

 which will ultimately be derived from the authoritative expo- 

 sition of a few competent scholars? 



§ 15. 1 believe this to be possible. And the proof is that 

 our religion rests on a translation the original of which not one 

 in a hundred Christians can read. How few, even of Greek 

 scholars, ever look at the Greek text of the New Testament? 

 How many can read the Old Testament in Hebrew ? Nor is the 

 translation perfect. Did we not a short time ago have a " Revised 

 Version " Yet our religion has not suffered from the fact that 

 we all read the Bible in our mother tongue. In fact, the very 

 scheme I am proposing for Classical education exists already in 

 religious education. That education is based, on a translation, 

 expounded by second-hand interpretations, which filter down 

 through clergymen and ministers from the Professors at Lhii- 



