The curriculum of modern education, and the respective claims of classics and science to be represented in it considered : being the substance of two lectures delivered at the monthly evening meetings of the College of Preceptors, April 11th, & May 9th, 1866 / by Joseph Payne.

  • Payne, Joseph, 1808-1876.
Date:
1866
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The curriculum of modern education, and the respective claims of classics and science to be represented in it considered : being the substance of two lectures delivered at the monthly evening meetings of the College of Preceptors, April 11th, & May 9th, 1866 / by Joseph Payne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    80 intercourse with intellectual nature is neces- sary ; our speculations upon matter are volun- tary find at leisure. Physiological (physical?) learning is of such rare emergence that a man may know another half his lile without being able to estimate his skill in hydrostatics or astronomy; but his moral and prudential cha- racter immediately appears. Those authors, therefore, are to be read at schools that supply most maxims of prudence, most principles of moral truth, and most materials for conversa- tion ; and these )>urposes are best served by poets, orators, and historians.” (Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, vol. i. p, 92.) D. (See page 23.) Merely as a suggestion, the following scheme for the study of Latin may be proposed :— 1. Dr. W. Smith’s Principia Latina, Parts I. and II. 2. Csesar—De Bello Gallico. 3. Virgil—Eclogm, books 1, 3, 4, and 6, Georgica, books 1 and 2. ^ueis, books 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12. 4. Cicero—Oratio pro Milone. Orationes in Catilinam. De Amicitia. 5. Livy, books 1 and 21. 6. Terence—Andria.. 7. Tacitus—Agricola. Annales, books 1 and 2. 8. Horace—Odse, Epistolse, and Ars Poetica. This matter should be thoroughly studied in the spirit of the method described in the text (pp. 13, 20, 21), and would require therefore’to be gone over, parts of it at least—the Caasar and Virgil—three times: first very slowly, weighing and investigating nearly every word; the second time less deliberately, improving the transla- tion and enlarging the illustration ; and the third time rapidly and in good English, so as to evince familiarity with both language and matter. The passages from Virgil and Horace should be committed to memory. E. Subjoined is a scheme of an amended cur- riculum : — First Stage of Instruction. (From about eight to twelve years of age.) First Division {about two years). 1. Reading, Spelling, and Writing, 2. History, Scriptural and English. 3. Geography, Topograpliieal and Physical. 4. French, Elementary Speaking and Read- ing. 5. Lessons on Objects. 6. Lessons on Words. 7. Arithmetic, chiefly Mental. Second Division {about two years). Same subjects, as far as may be necessary, with 1. Arithmetic, as an art generally. 2. Botany, Structural and Systematic. 3. Elementary Physics, general facts and phenomena. 4. English Grammar, Parsing and Analysis of Sentences. Second Stage of Instruction. (From about twelve to sixteen years of age.) First Division {about two years). Proportion of time, taking 40 hours per week for school-work. 1, Latin, taught as a training subject 20 2. French and German, practical mainly 5 3. Mathematics, especially Euclid ... 5 4. Physics, taught as a training sub- ject 5 5. English Language and Literature 5 Second Division {about two years), 1. Latin (time diminished) 10 2. French and German (time increased for more composition) 10 3. Mathematics — analytical, with practical applications .5 4. Chemistry or Human Pliysiology 10 5. English Language and Literature 5 Of course “Latin” and “English” both in- clude the subjects—such as geography, history, archfeology—which may be necessary for their illustration.