CLASSICAL LEAGUE FAVORS SIX YEAR DOSE OF LATIN

A recommendation that the study of Latin in secondary schools, be begun two years earlier than at present and continue for six years is made in the report of the Classical League on their inquiry into the study and the teaching of the classics. There is a general, though not complete, agreement among educational authorities, the report says, that it would be much better to begin the study of Latin two years earlier.

"By so doing it would be practicable to develop more deeply rooted habits of accuracy and thoroughness, a larger reading in the authors, greater facility in the reading and broader appreciation of the literary and historical influences flowing from the subject," says the report. "It will also furnish those who go to college greater power to read college Latin with certainty and speed and thus the opportunity to gain a larger first-hand acquaintance with Latin literature.

"The chance for establishing generally a well-planned six-year secondary school education has a far larger significance that the proper development of Latin or of any other individual study. It presents the one available opportunity for putting our whole secondary academic education on a satisfactory basis. On an intelligently arranged six-year pian all secondary studies would have a far better chance for their proper development at the time when they should be developed and with the time needed to develop them. The secondary school and not the university is now the strategic centre from which to attack the whole problem of reconstructing American education."

In discussing the proper content of Latin courses in schools the report recommends that greater stress be laid on developing the power to read Latin and thus to obtain a cultural and literary background. To this end it is recommended that the formal study of the elements of language be somewhat reduced in the early years and that a wide selection of reading matter designed to furnish this historical-cultural objective be emphasized. Mythology, Roman traditions, home life and biography, and legends and stories appealing to the imagination of youth are subject matter recommended.