The Philosophy of Teaching Part 3

"The Danish and Welsh also are primitive words, and may be considered as a part of our vernacular language. They are of equal antiquity with the Chaldee and Syriac."

But even were it true that our language was derived from the Latin, wherein lies the difficulty in the way of the teacher explaining to his pupils the meanings of the parts of English words which are of Latin origin, without the necessity of the pupil's acquiring the same knowledge by the roundabout process of learning one thousand words he will never need, for one that may at some time be to him of some service as a mnemonic?

Driven from this position, the advocates of "_cla.s.sical_" studies tell us that the study of Latin and Greek serves as a training for the intellect.

Unquestionably the exercise of the faculties of the mind serves to develop the faculties so exercised; yet if this were the object to be attained, Hebrew, nay, Chinese, would be preferable to Latin; but SCIENCE develops the same faculties, and far more efficiently. The facts of science to be stored up in the mind are so infinite in number and magnitude that no man, however gifted, could ever hope to master them all, though he were to live a thousand years. But their arrangement in scientific order not only develops the a.n.a.lytical powers of the mind, but exercises the memory in a method infinitely more useful and powerful than the study of any language.

Finally we are told cla.s.sical studies develop the taste. If then to this the advocates of such studies are driven, its mere announcement must suffice to banish Latin and Greek from all schools supported by taxation; for however essential it may be to provide the means of the best possible instruction, it is as absolutely out of the sphere of the Trustees of Public Moneys to provide, at the public expense, so _mere a luxury_ as on this hypothesis Latin and Greek must be, as it would be to provide the public with costly jewels! But even for the cultivation and development of art and taste, SCIENCE is the true curriculum!

He who is ignorant of anatomy can not appreciate either sculpture or painting! A knowledge of optics, of botany and of natural history, are necessary, equally to the artist or to the connoisseur; a knowledge of acoustics to the musician and musical critic. "No artist," says Mr.

Spencer, "can produce a healthful work of whatever kind without he understands the laws of the phenomena he represents; he must also understand how the minds of the spectator or listener will be affected by his work--a question of psychology." The spectator or listener must equally be acquainted with the laws of such phenomena, or he fails to attain to the highest appreciation.

I now come to the last and most serious aspect of this question, and I fearlessly a.s.sert that cla.s.sical studies have a most pernicious influence upon the morals and character of their votaries.

It should not be forgotten that Greeks and Romans alike lived by slavery (which is robbery), by rapine, and by plunder; yet we, born into a Christian community which lives by honest labor, propose to impregnate the impressionable minds of youth with the morals and literature of nations of robbers!

This letter has already extended to so great a length that I am compelled to abstain from making extracts from the works of the greatest thinkers, which I had desired: and I can now but cite them in support, more or less p.r.o.nounced, of the views above put forward, viz.: President Barnard, of Columbia College, who with rare honesty and boldness has spoken loudly against the conventional folly of cla.s.sical studies; Professor Newman, himself Professor of Latin at the University of London, England; Professors Tindall, Henfry, Huxley, Forbes, Pajet, Whewell, Faraday, Liebig, Draper, De Morgan, Lindley, Youmans, Drs. Hodgson, Carpenter, Hooker, Acland, Sir John Hersch.e.l.l, Sir Charles Lyell, Dr. Seguin, and, rising above them all in _educational science_, _Bastiat_ and _Herbert Spencer_. To a modified extent, the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill may be quoted--for he loudly advocates science for all--science, which is unavoidably excluded by the introduction of, or at least the prominence given to, Latin and Greek in our College. Mr. Mill, it is true also, advocates cla.s.sical studies, but for certain special cla.s.ses which exist in England who have no regular occupations in life.

Neither is it without importance as a guide to ourselves to observe that in the very best school in this country--a school perhaps not surpa.s.sed by any in the world, viz., the Military Academy at West Point--neither Latin nor Greek studies are permitted.

If now, in any career whatever, any use could be found for Latin, it must be in that of the professional soldier, to whom, if to any one, the language and literature of the most military people the world has ever seen, should be of some service. But no! the wise men who framed the curriculum of West Point, though they knew that the study of the campaigns of the Romans would be serviceable to their students, provided for their study, _not_ by the roundabout method of first learning a language which could never be of any other use, but by the direct method of the study of those campaigns! Are the pupils of West Point generally found deficient in intellect? Is not, on the contrary, the fact of having graduated at that school a pa.s.sport to the _highest scientific_ and _practical_ employment?

Our duty to the people is clear; let us neither waste the precious time of our youth on worse than useless studies, nor the money of the citizens on worse than useless expenditure.

I do earnestly hope that our Committee will give to my observations their most serious deliberation. Let us come to no hasty conclusion on this subject: accustomed as we have been to hear constantly repeated such conventional phrases as that "Latin and Greek are essential to the education of a gentleman;" that "cla.s.sical studies are indispensable to a liberal education;" to hear applauded to the echo orators who have introduced into their speeches quotations of bad Latin or worse Greek by audiences of whom not one in one thousand understand what was said. We have been apt to receive such phrases as embodying truths, without ever examining their foundations. I respectfully urge the Committee to consider well before they act, to study the reasons a.s.signed by the great thinkers I have named for condemning, as, humbly following in their wake, I venture to condemn, as worse than mere waste of time, the years devoted to Latin and Greek studies.

Let us endeavor to make the College of this city worthy of the city and of the state; let us cast aside the trammels of mediaeval ignorance, and supply to the pupils of the College "the culture demanded by modern life."

Let us in this, the first important matter which has come before our Committee, act in harmony and without prejudice, for the welfare of the College and "for the advancement of learning," and so prove ourselves worthy of the sacred trust we have a.s.sumed.

I am, dear sir, very truly yours,

NATHANIEL SANDS,

_Member of "The Executive Committee for the Care, Government, and Management of the College of the City of New York."_