The Daily News THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1905. LANGUAGES AT THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7704, 5 January 1905, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1905. LANGUAGES AT THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The remarks regarding the study of French and Latin which occur jji--Mt>-Pridham's annual report work" of the High School open up a subject- flir which there is room for much difference of opinion. "The regulations," said Mr Pridhaiu, "provide that French or Latin may be dropped at the option of the parents, and I regret to say that many avail themselves of the provision. I cannot too strongly express my opinion that this is not a wise thing to do. In a small school such as this no provision can be made for the special teaching of those who do not take Latin while the Latin lesson is going on, or French while the French lesson is on. The result is that children who only take one of these acquire idle habits ; for very few indeed will work satisfactorily without the aid of a teacher. A comparison of the class lists will also show that those who take only one language do not get higher marks than those who do take more than one. The omission of Latin or French also acts as a serious -handicap, to those going up for Matriculation."

I * * » * The whole question of the utility of the elementary study of any foreign language which stops at being elementary is one which the concensus of modern opinion has practically decided in the negative. The decision as -to whether a High School pupil should undertake any such study at all depends largely upon the future career which such pupil purposes to| follow. In perhaps the majority of cases the boy or girl attending a high school is" there merely to round off the elementary education of the public school, and will in after life have no use whatever for such Utile knowledge of a" second or third language as may ]>e gained by a couple of years' "book study. Certainly such study has some educative effect, and may even impart a tinge of culture that will not b.e without some superficial effect. But there is little doubt that in the case of students who do not intend to pursue their linguistic studies .beyond the high school course Ihc time devoted to foreign and dead languages would be better devoted to the perfecting of their working knowledge of the mother tongue. In tWs connection the comments of Mr MacDtarmid in favour of a classical education ar« begide the mark. No one doubts that it is "impossible to {-attain a full and true knowledge without a clear study ,of and acquaintance with the dead tongues." But who except professional philologists makes any pretension to this "full and- i true Knowledge" ? If, however, Mr MacDiannid would contend that a thoroughly forceful, accurate and masterly working knowledge of JSpglish is unattainable without classicaj studies a thousand facts contradict hjm. Some of England's greatest orators pnd authors have been men of no classical knowledge—a truth sp well known that to instance cases would be superfluous. * * « *

The schoolmaster's point of view is not necessarily a better one than that of the parent. If the parent be a person of average enlightenment and intellect it is highly probable that he sees more clearly what is best for his children. Unfortunately, indeed, a schoolmaster's judgments are too often biassed toy his training and vocation to such a degree as to become unpractical in the extreme. It is natural that one whose life has been devoted to the jfiiguiait'ion and impartment of certain branches ; of knowledge should come to regard those 'branches as vastly the most Yptoniilc part of the tree.jJHit as far as elp'mpnjary classical studies are in question th'erp'are but few who share the schoolman ter's opinions. Latin for the lad not contemplating a learned profession is waste of time. The educative effect produced by it might just fVJ > v .' 7 'l ■'*» .produced by other subjects more tff 'the lad's taste, ami bearing directly ovi tfcc after work of his mature life. Oiuio away from school or college not one li'iaii or woman in a thousand over opons ;|. classical book again, and in a very few years finds little remaining of /■lie mass of grammatical facts which' tw temporarily acquired as the dry rewattf of jniich time and labour. French,, if and practically taught, which it seldom is, must lie placed -in quite a different category. ~<V.s the most ni'arly perfect of living la*.guftges of practical use both in speech and literature, it lias high claims in any j4ct.il.me of liberal education. Moreover, ii' 'taught orally as well as by grammar and exercise, it becomes a pleasure to the pupil, and something he is proud to carry with him in hla later life and to cultivate to the full pf his after opportunities. Mr Fridham's plea that those pupils who do not take both French and Latin are neglected in school while other pupils are studying one or other of those subjects in not pne which can fairly appeal to parents ,«-hp would not have both those language* forced upon their children. There are no doubt difficulties in working with a small staff-in such a way that no pupil shall receive less instruction than another, but there is no exigency of organisation which can justify the confession that pupils not taking any given subject, are lik'ely to be left to their own devices, or so much without supervision as to acquire }<)) v habits.

out the awful agony of nil these months. Yet Anatole Mikhailovitch Stoessel, though the bearer of a Ger- ' man name, has probably assimilated ' as much of the Slav a s it is possible for a German to do. His family traditions are inseparably bound i up with Russia and Russia's army. His grandfather, General Ivan Stoessel, fought against Napoleon and governed Tsarsloe Selo ; his father, Mikhail Stoessel, joined the Orthodox Church, and served in ■the Em- | peror's Vivian Guards ; and 1 he him- ' self, bam 50 years ago, served not. withoift distinction in the Russo-1 Turkish war. 'Yet as late as 1900 Stoessel was known only as cowman- ; der of a (Siberian rifle regiment ; and his chance did not come until : the Boxer rising, when lie was the first commander to enter Tientsin, and rose to the rank of major-gener- ■ al for dash displayed in the attack , on the Chinese capital." I Stoessel is essentially an engineer. ■ "Stoessel is a bad SOME CHAR- soldier," said his ACTERISTICS. own commander, I Kuropatkin. "Put him with equal forces again a Gourko or a Skobcleff, and you'll find him tricked and cut to pieces in 2-1 hours. But stick him behind one of his own earthworks, where there's no question of manoeuvring, and a,U tho forces on earth and hell will not prevail against him," So when the war broke out, and the Tsar's counsellors tried to appoint the clever soldier Linievitch to command Port Arthur, Kuropatkin, stood firm that Stoessel was the man, and gained his point. Since then Stoessel's career" is a matter of history. It confirms what the best Russian authorities anticipated—that he was a stern fighter and a first-rate engineer, but an indift'ernet general in tho field. The comparative ease with which the Japanese took Nanshan and the outlying forts at Port Arthur, the desperate resistance they met with when they came to face tho German general behind the essential defences of the town, pftve that Kuropatkin wus right. Stoessel lacks most of the ordinary physicial and mental attributes of the successful soldier. Podgy, undistinguished!, with sleepy eyes, and trim-bearded, somewhat commonplace face, ho is the antithesis of the dashing and somewhat vain Muscotlve warrior. In St. Petersburg is used to be said that " Stoessel rose rapidly through his solemn manners and his dingy uniform," and there was probably some truth in the sneer for '■' Anatole Mikhai'loviU.-h " had the style and manners of tho Swiss militia soldier, and the vivacious and immaculate Russian staff could not help suspeoting depth beneath the studious officer's undazzling.-exterior. - Ttafsc who dislike Stoessel—and they are many —(declare A REMORSE- that he has no feelLESS MAN. ings. Certainly he never shows any. Stolid, taciturn, ami absolutely devoid of humour, Stoessel is a typical Teuton, totally cut of touch with the somewhat hysterical sentimentality of his adopted nation. His discipline is as tough as his fortifica-tions-and as sharp as his bayonets. "The man is remorseless," wrote n Russian officer, shortly after the Japanese landing at Pitsewo, who had seen a 19-year-okl soldier shot and cast into a dishonoured grave for a breach" of duty in which there was more stupidity 'than neglect. "Carry out the sentence. It saves' lives in the end," is Stoessel's grim retort to any court-martial that ends in recommendations of mercy. And the drunkard, the sleeping ' sentry, the culprit in some trivial act of insubordination is flogged, or shot, or even hanged without mercy, because, with his Teutonic (arithmetic and cold-blooded reasoning, Port Arthur's defender has worked it out that shooting one mun for a breach of duty may in some way indirectly "save the lives" of a whole battalion in the day of battle. That such a man could be "popular" in the usual sense of that misused word is not to be expected. Popularity among a populace is won by "panem et circenses," and not with the whip ami tii.e scaffold. Before tho lighting Stoessel's officers dreaded his rigid justice, which spared nobody, and his men, having no experience of his prowess as a lighter, and knowing only that by origin he belonged to the hated "Niemtsi" (Germans), regarded him without enthusiasm. " - On the Fourth Page, The Anglican Maori Mission. Killed Under Arrest. Love and Crime.

Proper Feeding of Cattle.