The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-05-03
The Dead and Living Languages.


lie SGuuy Oh the Qesiu anu the neg
lect of the living languages has been
from time out of mind the character
Istic of our older universities. There
have not been wanting those who APP
plaud as well as those who condemn
this system of education. But lately
the voice of condemnation has been
in the ascendant, and it has become
only a question of time when modern
languages should he taken under the
wing of the universities. Our Cam
bridge correspondence this morning
shows that the idea there has assumed
Il definite shape. The board appointed
for the consideration of the subject
has issued a number of recommends
| lions which amount to an elaborate
scheme for Modern Language Tri-
pos. According to this. all candi-
dates are to be required to
qualify in French and Ger
man. Having complied with this
condition, they will then be allowed
to compete for distinction either in
more difficult papers upon the French
and German language and literature,
or in English language or literature,
or in the language and literature of
some other country. The incorpora-
ton of such tripOs into the eXami-
national system of the university
will be a complete concession to those
who have urged the necessity for
placing the living languages as a
medium of study on a par with the
dead. First and foremost among its
good effects will be the stimulus
which it will afford to the cultiva-
ton of French and German in our
schools. Wherever the university
points the way. the school is pretty
sure to follow; and hence we
may expect some reform in the very
| faulty methods and inadequate scale
of tuition in modern languages pro-
vided by the head masters and gov
erning bodies of schools. Plenty of
old public school men will remember
the time when French was only
taught as an "eXtra" in the intervals
of school hours. French, and now,
too, German, are almost always part
| of a scholastic curriculum; but they
are as rule inetficiently studied, and
little time is given to them. The
French and German claSS-rooms are
looked upon by the Schoolboy as the
natural haunt of inattention and levi
ty. The goddess of disorder reigns
| there supreme, whether owing to
the supposed triviality OF the subject
or to the too frequent inability of the
foreign master to command the at
tention of his class. We will not say
that this state of things can be easily
| remedied. 1t is too inveterate in our
schools to be removed with ease, and
the first essential, a supply of not
only clever but able and judiciouS
teachers, is not always ready to hand.
A modern languages TripoS, again,
| will attract to the university num-
Der of students who pride themselves
upon being practical" These will
refuse to see the utility of learning
languages which no one speaks when
there are languages to be learned
which millions of people speak
every day. There is not as yet
much evidence to show whether such
| men are numerous, or whether they
are the men who care to incur the eX-
penses of three years residence at a
university. But modern Languages
Tripos will remove any possibility OF
reprOach on the score that a uniVer-
| Sity education teaches everything but
what is useful in everyday life. 1t
| will be one more step towards popu-
lariZing the university, which adopts
it, and bringing home the uses and
advantages of university training
| to larger classes of society.
| One objection is sure to be urged
against competitive university eX-
animation in modern languages. 1t
| is that the most successful candidates
| for honorS in French, German and
other tongues will in all probability
be those who are foreigners, or who
have resided long in foreign coun-
try, or are born of foreign parents,
and who will thus start with great
| odds in their favor in the race. This
occurs over and over again in our
public schools. The prize-Winners
are hardly ever the boys who began
with no knowledge of the language.
They are the sons of French or Ger
man parents, and have been made
familiar with the language at home
Lest it should be said that the
case would be different at Oxford
and Cambridge, it may be sufficient to
instance the University of London,
where frequently the majority of the
first and second class in the examina-
tion for honors in modern languages
is composed of candidates bearing for
eign names. 1t would seem no great
merit in a candidate to show a prof.
cheney in his mother tongue. The
proposal of the special board, it is
true, is not limited to requiring con-
versational proficiency in any living
language. The student will be asked
to answer questions upon the history
and philosophy of the language,
/ onH unon lifarotura ThTc
a Frenchman or an italian will
have his work provided for him
to obtain his frst-class. Neverthe-
less, as compared with all other can
didates in those languages, French
men and Italians will be at a great
advantage; and probably the immedi-
ate effect of introducing Modern
Languages Tripos at either university
would be to bring an immediate ac
cession of undergraduates OF foreign
descent, or qualified in modern Ian
guage by early training, or by foreign
residence. 1t may be answered that
according to the scheme to be sub
mitted to the Cambridge senate. En-
glish candidates will have the same
opportunity of shining in their own
language and literature, after they
have passed the preliminary eXamina-
ton in French and German. But we
are then led to this somewhat incon-
gruous result, that in the study of all
languages save their own-that is to
say, in the study of all languages in
which they most covet proficiency
Englishmen will be hopelessly handi-
capped. We do not mean that this is
anything more than an objection of
detail. 1t is not directed against the
institution of any modern languages
tripos at all, but is only a suggestion
that the results of such a competition
must be reckoned with proper allow
anees, Nor does it diminish the many
advantages which would flow from
giving an increased attention to mod
ern languages in our colleges and
schools. Our countrymen have de-
servedly the reputation of being bad
linguiStS. The number of Germans
who can speak English, compared
with the number OF Englishmen who
can speak German, is calculated to
make us ashamed. English authors,
too, will be more widely and more
deeply read, and the pathological study
of the English language will receive
an increased impetus.
1t does not follow that because the
special board has reported in the sense
above mentioned the senate will act
upon its communications, any more
than it follows that parliament will