Paradigm, No 1 (November, 1989)

When this book appeared in 1866, it aroused considerable controversy. It was drafted by Kennedy with the help of other 'Clarendon' headmasters: 200 sets of sheets were circulated for comment before publication. Yet a memorial of protest was signed by large numbers of public school masters and heads. It was criticised because of its newfangled scholastic terminology, but also because it was to be imposed on schools by authority. Latin grammar was a paradigm of permanent and certain truth, at a time when religious faith was wavering; but standardisation was widely seen as un-English in its overriding of the autonomy of schools and individuals. The controversy over the book thus had a number of overtones unconnected with grammar, and has to be understood in the context of the political, social, cultural and religious debates of the 1860s.

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