ow. At the time of the Renascence and when first
introduced into the curriculum of the Secondary School, these languages,
and especially Latin, did then possess a high functional value, since
they were the indispensable means to the furtherance of knowledge and to
social intercourse. To-day they possess little functional value, and
their claim for admission into the school curriculum is chiefly based
upon their so-called training and disciplinary values.

Let us consider this for a moment: in the reconstruction of, say, the
Latin language, the pupil is being trained in the reconstruction and
re-establishment of a language system whose methods and rules of
construction are much more complex and intricate than those of any
living language, and whose forms are so designed as to bring out
exactly varied shades of meaning. Hence, in its acquisition the pupil
receives practice in the exact discrimination of the meaning of words,
and in their accurate placing and reconstruction within the
sentence--the unit of expression--in order to bring out the exact
interpretation of the thought or statement of fact intended by the
writer.

Further, we may train the pupil during the school period to self-apply
the language system in the further interpretation of relatively unknown
passages. In short, we can train him in the processes of language
construction and of language application. Moreover, in considering this
question, we must take into account that during the school period the
main interest must necessarily be directed to the acquisition and
establishment of the system itself, that little attention can be
directed towards the content for its own sake, and that the
establishment of the system so that it shall function automatically in
the interpretation of the content is a stage which is attained in
comparatively few cases, and then only after many years of study.

If we then take into account, and we must take into account, the fact
that the chief value of the ancient languages as Secondary School
subjects lies in their use as training and disciplinary
instruments--that in after-life they function directly in the attainment
of no practical end, and only indirectly in so far as the habits
acquired of the exact weighing of the meaning of words and of the
accurate placing of words are carried over for the attainment of
practical ends in which these qualities of exact interpretation and
exact expression of language are the chief req