education of the rich as in that of the poor. It is wonderful _how
little_ a young gentleman may know when he has taken his university
degrees, _especially if he has been industrious, and has stuck to his
studies_. He may really _spend a long time in looking for somebody
more ignorant than himself_. If he talks with the driver of the
stage-coach that lands him at his father's door, he finds he knows
nothing of horses. If he falls into conversation with a gardener, he
knows nothing of plants or flowers. If he walks into the fields, he
does not know the difference between barley, rye, and wheat; between
rape and turnips; between natural and artificial grass. If he goes
into a carpenter's yard, he does not know one wood from another. If
he comes across an attorney, he has no idea of the difference between
common and statute law, and is wholly in the dark as to those
securities of personal and political liberty on which we pride
ourselves. If he talks with a country magistrate, he finds his only
idea of the office is that the gentleman is a sort of English Sheik,
as the Mayor of the neighboring borough is a sort of Cadi. If he
strolls into any workshop or place of manufacture, it is always to
find his level, and that a level far below the present company. If he
dines out, and as a youth of proved talents and perhaps university
honors is expected to be literary, his literature is confined to a
few popular novels--the novels of the last century, or even of the
last generation--history and poetry having been almost studiously
omitted in his education. _The girl who has never stirred from home,
and whose education has been economized, not to say neglected, in
order to send her own brother to college_, knows vastly more of those
things than he does. The same exposure awaits him wherever he goes,
and whenever he has the audacity to open his mouth. _At sea he is a
landlubber; in the country a cockney; in town a greenhorn; in science
an ignoramus; in business a simpleton; in pleasure a
milksop_--everywhere out of his element, everywhere at sea, in the
clouds, adrift, or by whatever word _utter ignorance_ and
_incapacity_ are to be described. In society and in the work of life,
he finds himself beaten by the youth whom at college he despised as
frivolous or abhorred as profligate."
Take the preparation of our youth for their duties as citizens. Here,
again, a knowledge of political and social economy is indispensable. We
have seen the attention it receives; and while two lessons a week for one
hour, and that only to the senior class in its last term, are given to
American citizens on the Constitution of the United States and on
International Law, _none whatever is given on the science of Government
throughout the entire course of five years_!
I might go through the whole course of studies with similar results. Here
and there, in this or that class, a small amount of attention is given to
some of the sciences omitted in the other classes; but the entire record
is one of the most disheartening character.
_Words! words!_ engross almost exclusively the attention of the students
from the hour they enter the College until they leave it; and it is not to
the five-and-twenty graduates the palm of useful industry should be
awarded, but to the many who, in discouragement, abandon a course which
tends to _unfit_ them for the great battle of life!
What, then, are the reasons generally assigned for this perverse
conventionalism of devoting the time of youth to the acquirement of dead
words, to the unavoidable exclusion of nearly every thing that is of
value? First, we are told that we can not understand the English language
without a knowledge of Latin, from which it is derived. The inaccuracy of
this pretension is at once made manifest by reference to Webster, where he
states:
"That English is composed of--
"_First._ Saxon and Danish words of Teutonic and Gothic origin.
"_Second._ British or Welsh, Cornish and Amoric, which may be
considered as of Celtic origin.
"_Third._ Norman, a mixture of French and Gothic.
"_Fourth._ Latin, a language formed on the Celtic and Teutonic.
"_Fifth._ French, chiefly Latin corrupted, but with a mixture of
Celtic.
"_Sixth._ Greek formed on the Celtic and Teutonic, with some Coptic.
"_Seventh._ A few words directly from the Italian, Spanish, German,
and other languages of the Continent.
"_Eighth._ A few foreign words, introduced by commerce, or by
political and literary intercourse.
"Of these, _the Saxon words constitute our mother-tongue_, being
words which our ancestors brought with them from Asia.
"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 "_classical_" 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 analytical 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 classical 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 assert that classical 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
pronounced, 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 classical 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 Herschell, 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 classical studies, but for certain special classes 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 surpassed 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 passport 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 "classical 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 assigned 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 mediæval 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 assumed.
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."_
_The Philosophy of Teaching._
THE TEACHER, THE PUPIL, THE SCHOOL.
BY NATHANIEL SANDS.
8vo, Cloth, $1 00.
An interesting and valuable work, in which the science of teaching is
treated in a philosophical and practical manner, and a sketch is given of
a school to be established on the principles developed in his pages. Mr.
Sands takes the view that education, mental and physical, is but the
absorption of surrounding elements into the mind and body--an arrangement
and assimilation of materials so as to incorporate them into the being to
whose nourishment they are applied, just as the tree or plant assimilates
to its growth and subsistence the materials which it draws from the air
and the soil; and his theory of teaching is based on these truths.--_N. Y.
Times._
He advocates a radical change in the system of teaching youth. He proposes
a school where pupils shall be taught by illustrations from nature as well
as from books; where the museum, chemical laboratory, and workshop shall
find a place; where, in short, the mind of the learner shall not be
forced, but shall have just the kind of food suitable for its age and
development.--_N. Y. World._
Much has been written upon education--much that is both wise and
thoughtful, and much that has been but sound. Among the most thoughtful
and suggestive recent writings is an unpretentious work bearing the title
of "The Teacher, the Pupil, the School," by Mr. Nathaniel Sands. Small as
it is, it contains more ideas than many bulky volumes.--_N. Y. Tribune._
The question with which he mainly concerns himself is whether Latin and
Greek, and certain other branches, shall be taught to the exclusion of
more practical studies. He thinks that what is commonly known as the
"culture demanded by modern life"--chemistry, mining, anatomy, natural
history, political and social economy, the science of government,
etc.--should take the place now usurped by classical studies. Mr. Sands
believes in making no compromise between the useful sciences and the
classics. He condemns "as worse than mere waste of time the years devoted
to Greek and Latin," and would bar them out altogether.--_Journal of
Commerce._
Mr. Sands, who has just been appointed one of the new Board of Education,
has long been known as an advanced thinker on the subject he is now called
upon to deal with. He has published a pamphlet on the Philosophy of
Education.--_N. Y. Sun._
We have in this compact and unpretentious treatise a great deal of pith
and acumen, brought to bear upon a most important subject--that of
educational first principles. Mr. Sands has gone to the base of human
teaching, discarding pretentious themes, in order to illustrate the
simpler beauty of that eductive and inductive co-relationship which,
beginning at the mother's breast, proceeds through all the quiet processes
of mental development in infancy, childhood, and maturity.--_N. Y.
Dispatch._
His hints may well arrest the attention of thoughtful men.--_N. Y.
Tribune._
We commend it to the thoughtful consideration of all, but especially of
our public men. * * * Commissioners of Schools and others charged with
youthful training may advantageously consider the reflections.--_N. Y.
Evening Post._
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
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HARPER & BROTHERS _will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to
any part of the United States, on receipt of $1 00_.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
Additional spacing after block quotes is intentional to indicate both the
end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in
the original text.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Philosophy of Teaching, by Nathaniel Sands