# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S517
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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» 516 Report of Board for Higher Education

The results of this test are disappointing. Students of two sch
of six show a reasonably proficient ability in Latin reading. If th
tests are a trustworthy measure of student accomplishment in La
we assuredly cannot continue to refer to the training at our insti
tions as “classical.” .

A specific analysis of the reasons underlying this poor performance. :

- must be left to others. Our impression is that the teaching methoc
are not right. In the high school division undue stress appears to bé:
placed on grammar, and the student fails to learn to read Latin wi
any degree of fluency even after four years of training. At the tim
the student has completed his college work the grammar has be
largely forgotten, and the reading ability has not been developed,
Both aims and methods require clarification and adjustments. - Student?

methods of preparation for the classes and testing methods also ar
in need of revision.

6. Greek
Standardized Greek tests being unavailable, a modified form o
the tests used by the University of Chicago. at the end of the thir
quarter’s study was given at the: preparatory schools in late springs
of 1942. It was felt that.a test used at the end of one year of Gree}
at the University of Chicago should not be. too difficult for our
students having had four years of Greek. This assumption proved to
be incorrect. Translation was so poor that actual scoring was n
even attempted.
Thereupon a committee, consisting of Professors W. Arndt,. H
Wente, and V. Bartling, was appointed to construct a Greek examin:
tion for re-testing this same group. of students in the fall after they,
had entered the St. Louis Seminary. The test was given in Novet

ber, 1942. : ; .
The scoring of the Papers was quite liberal. It was the judgme:

‘ of every member of the committee that the test was easy.

If this test is a reliable and valid measure of the student’s abil;
in-Greek, then it must be concluded that at only several preparato:
schools were the students satisfactorily trained in. Greek.

In the final analysis, it seems most likely that the poor perform-
ance should be ascribed to ineffective instructional procedures and
wrong study techniques. (joint preparation in dormitory rooms with
one student translating for the group, and the looking up of forms
distributed among the group—interlinear translation).

:

.H. Recommendations for the Improvement
7 _ Of Instruction:

1. A detailed, comprehensive syllabus should be prepared for e
course.. It should provide a statement of the ultimate goals and
immediate objectives in clear practical terms. Generalities, such
“preparing for St. Louis,” are useless. The instructors should
conscious of these aims throughout the year. The entire work of th