German has long been taught in the elementary schools. Until less than
10 years ago it was taught in all grades beginning with the first.
More recently it has been confined to the four upper grades. Beginning
with the present year, it is taught only in the seventh and eighth
grades. The situation is so well presented in the report of the
Educational Commission of 1906 that further discussion here is
unnecessary. They summarize their discussion of the teaching of German
in the elementary schools as follows:
"Such teaching originated in a nationalistic feeling and demand on the
part of German immigrants, and not in any educational or pedagogical
necessity.
"It aimed to induce the children of Germans to attend the public
schools, where they would learn English and be sooner Americanized.
"For 15 years [now 25 years] past, German immigration has almost
ceased, and other European nationalities, as the Bohemians, Poles, and
Italians, have taken their place numerically.
"The children of the earlier German immigrants are already
Americanized and use the English language freely, and those later
born, of the second and third generations, no longer need to be taught
German in the schools beginning at six years of age.
"It is demonstrated by experience and by abundant testimony that
children neither from German nor from English-speaking families really
learn much German in the primary and grammar grades, that is, from six
to 13 years of age.
"Hence the Commission recommends that the teaching of German in these
grades be discontinued and that the German language be taught only in
the high schools.
"It is admitted that those who begin German in the high school, after
the second year, can keep up with and do as good work in the same
classes as those who have had eight years of German in the primary and
grammar grades and two years in the high schools."
The form of argument that once was valid for including German in the
elementary course of study may now be valid for Polish, Hungarian,
Bohemian and Italian, for the children of the first generation of
these nationalities. Properly done, it is a means of preventing
the children's drifting from the parental moorings. After the first
generation, it would not be needed.
It is impossible, in the limited space at our disposal, to discuss
comprehensively so complicated a topic as foreign languages in the
high school. One group of educators sturdily defends the traditional
classical course, with its great emphasis on Greek and Latin, while
another group as urgently insists that if any foreign languages
are taught, they must be the modern ones. These opposing schools of
thought are profoundly sincere in their conflicting beliefs. Each
side is absolutely certain that it is right and is unalterably of the
opinion that there is no other side of the question to be even so
much as considered. Anything that agrees with its own side is based
on reason; anything opposed is but ignorant prejudice. Under the
circumstances the disinterested outsider may well suspect that where
there is so much sincerity and conviction, there must be much truth on
both sides. And undoubtedly this is the case.
Latin is a living language in our country in that it provides half of
our vocabulary. Pupils who would know English well should have a good
knowledge of this living Latin. If the Latinists would shift their
ground to this living Latin and provide means of teaching it fully
and effectively for modern purposes, it is possible that the opposing
schools of thought might here find common ground upon which all could
stand with some degree of comfort and toleration. When Latin study of
the character here suggested is devised, it ought to be opened up to
the students of all courses as an elective, so that it could be
taken by all who wish a full appreciation and understanding of their
semi-Latin mother tongue. Such a study ought to be required of the
clerical students of the High School of Commerce. In the meantime,
however, all will have to wait until the Latinists have provided the
plans and the materials.
In the new so-called English course in the academic high schools
required foreign languages are omitted entirely. In the third and
fourth years German or Spanish is made elective. This gives rise
to several questions. If the foreign language is studied simply as
preparation for the leisure occupation of reading its literature--the
only value of the course in the case of most who take it--why should
not French be elective also? By far the largest of the world's
literatures, outside of the English, is the French. The Spanish has
but a small literature; and while Germany has excelled in many things,
belles-lettres is not one of them. Another question relates to the
placing of these electives. If one is to study a foreign language at
all, it is usually thought best to begin earlier than the third year
of the high school, so as to finish these simple matters that can
be done by children and gain time in the later years for the more
complicated matters that require mature judgment.