A Latin Test: Entrance to Harvard in the Late 19th Century
The year is 1869 CE. After a long number of years of at home tutorial via strict tutor and many bruised knuckles, all that keeps you form your future at Harvard University is a simple test. You have spent hours, days rolling through the annals of history and science and math to prepare. You memorized your theorems. You checked your maps. You understand the scientific models and methods. There is nothing that can stop you.
As you sit down in your dress attire in the hot sweltering examination room, you look over the first page of the exam and feel your stomach plummet to the floor beneath your chair. I forgot to study Latin. You forgot to study Latin! You look through the rest of the test and see Greek, math, and history, some inklings of science you can use—but the first two pages are all about Latin and Greek!
While this scenario may be far fetched from reality today, from the 17th century all the way through the 19th, a strong and supple understanding of Latin and Greek were required for entrance into almost every major college in America, regardless of place or status.[1]
This entrance exam for Harvard University from 1869 CE highlights the place of the classics in American collegiate education: the most important part of the test, placed right at the front, is Latin and Greek translations.