Abstract
Until very recent years there has been a misconception of the position that Latin holds in the secondary schools. Our critics would have us believe that the study of Latin has suffered a rapid decline in the last twenty years. They denounced it as no longer a "practical” subject, but rather a dead language. The study was for a time dropped from the curricula of many high schools, or was not made compulsory for graduation. Students were even dissuaded from Latin study and given the impression that the results derived from its study were entirely disproportionate to the amount of time which the subject demanded. In view of this opposition 'Latin has had to maintain itself against vehement criticism from those whose cry is "practicality" in education, and those who incessantly assert that the present results of Latin study are defective, since the young man or woman after four years of Latin study has neither a sufficient mastery over the language to enable him to read Latin literature merely for the enjoyment he finds therein. It is true that the great majority of high school graduates who enter college have no relish for the subject, but pursue it simply because it is a required subject. But do they, on the other hand, turn with enthusiasm and interest to the sciences or mathematics?