CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 247, 24 February 1911, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE

THE ABOLITION OF THE CLASSICS. To the Editor. Sir—With reference to the proposed discontinuation of instruction in the ''classics" in colleges and schools, it might be contended that although the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, or even of Aristotle, might not be requisite in the tuition of pupils desirous of distinction in the political arena, yet the soil of ancient Greece has pr6duced some of the most eminent men of history, founders, legislators, statesmen and orators, not to mention chiefs, warriors and strategists. A glance, therefore, at the lives of such "classic" names as Theseus, Lyciirgus, Aristides, Solon, Pericles, etc., to be discovered, say, in "Plutarch," might not be prejudicial or without utility in the formation of the mind of the scholar for his future worldly career, or, again, for those who might be "smit with the love of honorable deeds," to whom the fields of historic fame might have attractions, Homer might not be condemned as a prelude to the "Horrid front of war," and to the toils, risks and terrors of fighting fields. "Read Homer,'' it is said, "and you will read no more; all other books you'll deem a bore. No other volume will you need; Homer will be all the books you read." The love of the gods and goddesses, of the chiefs and their achievements, is given perhaps in "Kingsley's Heroes," or other abridgments of Grecian history and mythology., might not bo found so much less interesting to the student and quke as edifying as the most blood-curdling fictions of the time, detective "dreadfuls," the. stories of impossible crimes unravelled by impossible policemen, incredible exploits or cabalistic and supernatural Dr. Nikolas, the study of which would almost suggest astonishment that a proportion of the writers of most unquestioned literary ability should devote their time and whole lives to the composition and invention of ultra fictions, and in the face of the dramas, heroisms, and tragedies t>f everyday life, scarcely induce the decision that it is imperative that t|ic "classics must go."—l nm, etc., ■ -■'-.n», . , ...... C.W.W.'