24 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



We do not expect to see ancient languages come back as the 

 staple of education. They can do the work, and it is doubtful whether 

 they would ever have been displaced if the teaching of Latin and Greek 

 had been wise. Modern languages are now on trial; and, if the teach- 

 ing is wise, they may retain a large place in the curriculum. It is a 

 pity that all teachers of modern languages are not fine classical 

 scholars, so that they might realize what they are called upon to 

 replace. In the long view of English education the teacher of modern 

 languages has held no position comparable to that of the professor 

 of Latin or of Greek; the position of the teacher of French, on the 

 whole, has been nearer the rank of the dancing-master. This position 

 was due, not to his subject, but to his view of it; and today, if a man 

 teaches a foreign language merely as an accomplishment, as a means 

 of getting on, he is hardly worthy of a place in the public-school 

 system. Modern-language teaching has not often equaled the classics ; 

 to succeed, it must put away all infantile methods and grapple with 

 the things of most worth. 



Teachers of modern languages should seriously ask: How can I 

 develop my students ? What can I furnish that will make up for the 

 loss of a drill in mathematics ? for a drill in Latin ? for a drill in Greek ? 

 Here the German schoolmaster has an advantage over the American. 

 If he is seeking an equivalent for Aeschylus, for Sophocles, for 

 Euripides, he can turn to England. But where in continental Europe 

 can the American teacher find an equivalent for Caesar, for Xenophon; 

 for Horace, for Pindar; for Virgil, for Homer? We must admit that 

 in general the modern languages are less difficult than Latin and 

 Greek. Modern-language teachers usually overrate the difficulties 

 of modern texts. There is no advantage in hunting easy texts for 

 students who have read the fortieth chapter of the first book of Caesar 

 in the second year of the high-school course and the ninth chapter of 

 the first book of the Anabasis a year later. But difficulty is not a 

 full measure of educational fitness. We are coming to know the value 

 of light gymnastics. The training that will yield the richest return 

 from foreign-language study is literary training. Though the high- 

 est forms of literature in modern Europe do not surpass or equal in 



