Grammar School

Grammar School

Sydney, Grammar School

I  INTRODUCTION

Grammar School, originally a school in which the curriculum emphasized the study of Greek and Latin grammar and related subjects. In a graded system of public schools such as that found in the U.S., the term has come to be synonymous with the term elementary school.

II  LATIN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

During the early Middle Ages, Latin grammar was the main subject taught in the monastic schools, which were the principal European educational institutions of that time. As universities and colleges developed and education became more secular, the Latin grammar school became a college-preparatory school.

Gradually the study of grammar, viewed as one of the seven liberal arts, came to include all subjects relating to written language, such as style. Greek grammar was added to the curriculum during the intellectual phase of the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. The study of vernacular languages entered the curriculum during the Reformation, but was given secondary emphasis. These subjects became the major areas of study in European secondary schools, which were generically called grammar, or Latin grammar, schools.

After the Reformation, many ecclesiastical schools were replaced by more secular institutions, especially in Protestant countries. The German Gymnasium and the British public schools were essentially Latin grammar schools. The French lycée also provided a classical education. Such schools were first established in colonial America during the 17th century. In Boston the Latin Grammar School, founded in 1635, became the prototype of other institutions that provided college-preparatory education for boys.

III  U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS

When free, state-run educational systems were begun in the U.S. during the 19th century, the grammar-school curriculum was incorporated into the public-school system. Although the term grammar school is still used to indicate the level of instruction next above the rudiments of reading and writing, the true grammar-school subjects have been made a part of the academic branch of secondary education in public schools. Some private academies still retain aspects of the European grammar school.

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Latin Grammar School

English Articles of Latin Grammar School

A private secondary school developed in England that originally took boys of nine or ten years of age for four to seven years of preparation for college. The first school founded in the American colonies was the Boston Latin School, which opened on April 13, 1635. Latin grammar schools, or, more simply, grammar schools, accepted only boys who could read and knew English grammar and basic mathematics and whose parents could afford the tuition. The Latin school curriculum focused on Latin grammar, but also included study of Greek and some history, geography, geometry, algebra and trigonometry.

The Latin school eventually proved too costly and impractical for life in an expanding frontier nation, and it was replaced by the academy, which offered a broader curriculum. Boston Latin, however, remained one of New England’s most renowned schools, eventually helping to educate some of the foremost American colonialists, including BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.Boston Latin is now a public school with a conventional public school curriculum.

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NASA Launching Satellite Thursday to Track Earth's Dirt from Space

NASA's next Earth-observing satellite is ready to launch Thursday (Jan. 29), and it could vastly improve the way scientists monitor droughts around the world.

© NASA/Randy Beaudoin

The space agency's Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) is scheduled to launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force base atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket at 9:20 a.m. EST (1420 GMT) on Jan. 29, and at the moment, weather is looking good ahead of liftoff. Officials are predicting an 80 percent chance of good conditions during the 3-minute launch window Thursday.

The SMAP satellite is designed to measure the moisture of Earth's dirt more accurately than ever before, according to NASA. The probe will make a global map of the planet's soil moisture levels every three days. This measurement is important because it can help scientists create more accurate weather models, learn more about drought conditions and even predict floods, NASA officials have said. [See images from the SMAP mission]

"What the soil measurements will do is improve our weather forecasts, improve our assessments of water availability and also address some issues dealing with long-term climate variability and assessments of the impact of human intervention in the global environment," Dara Entekhabi, SMAP science team leader, said during a news conference Tuesday (Jan. 27). "All of these come together and it's the metabolism, how it responds, just like a human body."

© NASA

You can watch live coverage of the SMAP satellite launch starting at 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) Thursday (Jan. 29) on Space.com via NASA TV.

The SMAP probe comes equipped with a huge mesh antenna, expected to be deployed sometime after launch. At nearly 20 feet (6 meters), the antenna is the largest of its kind that NASA has ever flown in space, officials have said. SMAP's antenna is designed to spin at about 14.6 revolutions per minute while mounted to the end of a long arm on the satellite's body.

The satellite is built to measure moisture in the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of soil from its spot in orbit about 426 miles (685 kilometers) above Earth's surface, completing an orbit once every 98.5 minutes. The satellite's unprecedented soil information could help scientists learn more about how droughts spread and the places where they occur. By knowing the moisture in topsoil ahead of time, it could also help researchers better-predict where floods will happen.

"Soil moisture is a key part of the three cycles that support life on this planet: the water cycle, the energy cycle and the carbon cycle," NASA SMAP program executive Christine Bonniksen, said during the news conference. "These things affect human interest: flood, drought, disease control, weather."

The rocket carrying SMAP will also deliver four small cubesats into Earth's orbit during the launch as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Satellites program. One cubesat, called ExoCube, will monitor the upper atmosphere from orbit. Two Firebird satellites will investigate the radiation environment around Earth, and the GRIFEX satellite is a technology demonstration partially developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  

The $916 million mission is expected to last about three years or more. SMAP is one of five NASA Earth-monitoring satellites originally scheduled for launch in 2014. Three of those missions — Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite, Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory and ISS-RapidScat — got off the ground last year. But SMAP and the recently launched Cloud-Aerosol Transport mission mounted to the International Space Station were delayed until 2015.

Quoted from MSN

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Mummified Monk from 200 Years Ago Found Perfectly Preserved in Meditating Pose

The stunning find was discovered in Mongolia with experts reckoning the body has sat undiscovered since the 1800s

The remarkable remains of a mummified Mongolian monk

These are the amazingly intact remains of a monk meditating that have lay undiscovered since sometime in the 1800s.

The discovery of the man sat in the lotus position has sparked a forensic investigation into the unknown religious devotee - with experts' initial evaluation suggesting the mummified remains are at least 200 years old.

The human relic, which had been preserved in animal skin, was found this week in Songinokhairkhan province, according to Mongolia's Morning Newspaper.

Preserved: Experts believe the monk has sat undiscovered for at least 200 years

Investigators are now studying the remains in the capital Ulaanbataar.

In Koh Samui, Thailand, a mummified monk wearing sunglasses - Luong Pordaeng, who died in 1973 – provides an unusual tourist attraction.

Pordaeng sits upright in a glass case at Wat Khunaram temple.

Quoted from Mirror

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