The University and Its Wants, Part II [pp. 440-442]

The University and its Wants.
The constituent elements of the Roman
people, the gradual development of their
constitution, the spirit of their laws and
institutions are all clearly, ably and forcibly set forth.
But let us see what are the accomplishments of a Master of Arts. ~ VII. "Take
his attainments in the classics and his
knowledge is very meagre. A graduate
in Greek with considerable labour and
the help of a dictionary, can only with
difficulty translate a passage from a Greek
author. As to reading it off fluently, unless in a rare instance, he could not attempt it. In nine cases in (out of?) ten
there would be a hopeless failure."
Now, Sir, in order to become " a graduate in Greek" the applicant must translate, without the help of a dictionary, some
fifty or sixty lines of Thucydides, Sophocles or some other of the more difficult
Greek authors. As to reading off fluently
an accurate extemporized translation of
any Greek author, which he has not read
frequently before, we venture to assert
that Porson or Hermann himself could not
do it. Again we find the following a little further on.
" With regard to any appreciation of
Latin or Greek Literature or reading any
author in the original in preference to a
translation, we have not heard the first
instance."
Before commenting on this sentence,
we will take the liberty of translating it
into English. The writer means, we take
it, that he has heard of no graduate of
the University who showed any apprecia tion of Greek and Latin Literature, or
who read Greek and Latin authors in the
original, if he could help it. Now, Sir
we have been more fortunate than this
writer. We know several graduates, who
seem to us to exhibit a very just appreci ation of ancient Literature, and can
name to him many who can and do read
classic authors in the original. Facts
will not justify such assertions as we have
been quoting above. Nor does it appear
to us that these representations are made
in a proper spirit. The writer seems to
take pleasure in enumerating the shortcomings of our young men. He does not
write like a man compelled by a sense of
duty and honest regard for truth to state
humiliating facts. He makes out the
case a g ood d eal worse th an it really is.
Th ough y o un g men may leave the University with the degre of A. M., and yet
be possessed of no acquaintance with the
" wonderful monuments" of Greek painting, nor so profoundly rooted in Etymology as to feel tempted to go out of their
way to derive Ops from Opus, this writer
should not treat them with utter disdain,
but hold out to them the hope of some
day climbing to the sublime height from
which he and his German Jew boys* look
down upon less fortunate mortals. Hamnilton does not speak so disdainfully of
Oxford metaphysics as this writer speaks
of University scholarship, and yet he is
perhaps almost, if not quite, as well
versed in metaphysics as this writer is in
classical Literature and Etymology.
There is only one other passage in this
essay on which we propose to comment.
"Not only do our young men merely
fly over the University, but they are
wretchedly ignorant when they go there.
* * * Except the pupils of a few good
schools (such as Colenian's, &c.,) what
do these young men know?"
Now, Sir, we would not say a word in
disparagement of the popular boarding
school here referred to. We believe that
Messrs. Coleman, Minor & Co. fully de serve the high reputation they enjoy and
the liberal patronage they receive. But
we deny that there is so vast a distance
between the boys sent to College by these
gentlemen and those sent from other
schools, as we are here led to suppose.
Take the lists of graduates in the differ ent schools and it will be found, we think,
* Those fourteen-year-olds, who turned Dutch into Hebrew with such rare facility, we take for
granted, were children of Israel. The ou' clou' people are a polyglot race.
I
1856.1
441
that not many more than a fair proportion of the whole are from these schools.
There are many men in all parts of Virginia teaching small private schools,
neighbourhood schools, incorporated aca