W. H. D. Rouse
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W. H. D. Rouse (1863-1950) was an exceptional teacher. He pioneered in England the use of the Direct Method of teaching Latin.
Rouse was a distinguished undergraduate at the University of Cambridge. He gained a double first in the Classical Tripos, and was a Sanskrit scholar as well as a classicist.
He was appointed a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. After six years he became a schoolmaster, finally being appointed headmaster of the Perse School, Cambridge. He took over when the school was in financial crisis; Rouse restored it to a sound footing.
As a teacher he believed firmly in learning by doing as well as seeing and hearing. Although the curriculum at the Perse was dominated by Classics, he urged that Science should be learned through experiment and observation. He also advocated the learning of crafts.
James Loeb chose Rouse, with two other eminent Classical scholars, T. E. Page and the American Edward Capps, to be founding editors of the Loeb Classical Library. Rouse was still actively involved in translation work throughout his retirement.
To spread the gospel of Direct Method teaching of Latin and Greek, Rouse started in 1911 a highly successful series of Summer Schools for teachers. This led to the establishment of the Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching (ARLT) in 1913. He made gramophone records on the pronunciation of Greek, and a Latin course, for Linguaphone.
Reference
- An account of his life and work by Christopher Stray, entitled The Living Word: W.H.D.Rouse and the Crisis of Classics in Edwardian England, was published by Bristol Classical Press in 1992 (ISBN 1-85399-262-3).
[[Category:British educators|Rouse, W. H. D. W.H.D. Rouse translated The Odyssey which was first written by Homer.
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