The Service Bureau for Classical Teachers

Abstract

Four years ago, under the direction of the American Classical League and with its support, the Service Bureau for Classical Teachers was established, with headquarters at Teachers College, Columbia University. The step was a new one, an altogether novel departure in educational developments, and necessarily fraught with difficulties. Now that the stage of experimentation has passed into recognized and approved achievement, it is fitting and timely to survey the work the bureau has accomplished, the new stimulus and approach it has inspired, and the broader field it has disclosed. Primarily, the bureau is not a research body. It functions, rather, very much as does the United States Bureau of Education. It is essentially a meeting-place, a virtual agora, a storehouse for the gathering and distribution of information relative to the pedagogical and cultural aspects of the work of classical teachers. At all times it is ready to offer its services, to advise the large corps of secondaryschool and college teachers, to suggest methods of handling various themes, to furnish bibliographies and material on a variety of topics, ranging from Latin magazines and plays to the presentation of a Roman banquet. Nor are the activities of the bureau local or regional in scope. The entire country is included in its field of operations. At the same time it does not conflict with any of the classical organizations previously established. It is supplementary and complementary to them, co-operates with them, and, indeed, invites assistance from educators in other fields, from publishers, from teachers, and from all others interested.