Item 33 - Letter from George Butler to Henry Sidgwick

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Believes that modern languages should be given 'a platform side by side with Latin and Greek' in university examinations. Refers to the diplomatic service, and foreign correspondents 'in large commercial houses'. Observes that much prejudice exists against the examination which is to supercede the Previous Examination at Cambridge. Refers to Dr Kennedy's suggestion that students should be able to secure 'a double training up to their 6th Term, after which they may read exclusively for either Tripos, or if they prefer it, for the Moral Science's Tripos.' Speaks of his desire to see men leaving the universities well-educated in every sense of the word, and of the importance of allowing 'a certain liberty of choice' in relation to subjects to be studied at university. Remarks that if classical scholars like Professor Kennedy and Lord Lyttelton are prepared to allow an alternative for Greek, he 'should regard it as mere destructiveness if [he] opposed French and German being substituted for it.' Suggests how the difficulty of making two examinations in the Gospel - English and Greek - of equal value might be overcome.

Refers to the M[oderation] Examination at Oxford, and its effect on classical study, and states that Professor Conington, with whom he examined some years previously for the Hertford Latin Scolarship, 'spoke in favour of the [working] of the recent system' [at Oxford]. Declares that he is wholly in favour the new scheme in relation to the Previous Examination, which the University of Cambridge now proposes to adopt, as it 'will act beneficially as a stimulus to industry in public schools and especially in those which, like Liverpool College, draw their pupils from the various grades of the Middle Class' and are obliged to make modern languages a part of their curriculum.