The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-30
PROF 0. !. BREDA's IDEAS
ON NORWEGIAN AFFAIRS
Character Noways TroubeIn Spite Pemisc ReAec.
lions, He Sees Hope and Prom Use for Old Norway.
So.

recty we Word ike religion " Standards su ards
news be Isl hg ed eysts
doubt, was esided, the humanities far out,
weighed the sciences. Now things are re-
never dreamt Of when l. went. to school.
Modern languages, notably English and Ger
the pa Sfsn Of Latn and
great practical advantages.
And also in the way of teaching these Ian
guages, entirely new methods have been
speak and write these languages with ease
and fuency and the old method Of grammar
now replaced by the Initiative method. in
which grammar and dictionary are relegated
to the background in favor of memorizing
and oral exercises. Teachers of modern Ian
mast pc in
the new method, at least in my opinion, has
serious drawbacks In practice. It certainly
certain glibness of tongue not acquired by
the old method but on the other hand it does
not encourage accurate habits OF mind or
ton; it does not educate in the best sense OF
the word. il. ....-.
oId-Fashtoned Methods Discarded.
The better the school books and the teach
ers become, the less the pupils seem to learn
in certain way. In my youth we had indif-
ferent school books and sometimes very. poor
but it seems to me that we learned more-at
any rate We knew a great many things which
modern schoolboys are Ignorant Of In mod
ern languages, our. pronunciation was poor
ana our conversat ional powers very limited,
but the thoro drill in grammar and language
structure which we had received made the
Gf the
happened to come to foreign countries. !!
With old-fashioned teaching old-fashioned
| school discipline has. also disappeared. When
| l went to school hn1qinp Of dai1y
| currence, but we learned our lessons and re-
| spected and obeyed our teachers, even if we
Gid not love them particularly. With the dis
appearance of the humanities, humanity has
made its appearance in our schools, NO
teacher dare touch with a finger the dear
little future voters Of Norway and conse-
quently they entertain no very extravagant
respect for their teachers. A great many OF
them here evidently never learned to obey
their parents and the gentle lady teachers in
the preparatory classes have not, as a rule,
succeeded in instilling any great feeling Of
respect for authority into their systems. !:
# there is anything which is needed in this
YOUNG to get it, The parents are too mede err
forbidden to do so. The only consolation
| is that when these young people grow UP to
have children of their own, they will prob
ably ''wallop them like blazes". to make up
for what they lost themselves in their youth
and thus matters will, be equalized after all.
But shall al no. go any further into this sub
u
way. Complaints Of the degeneracy Of mod
ern times have been heard in all generations.
One. hundred and fifty years ago crusty old
i Samuel Johnson; said: -. - :r1
schools than formerly, but :, then. less is
learned there. so that what, the. boys get al
one end they lose at the, other"
AZ The Ridiculous "LandsmaaT" Fad.
da,d 1astGT IL the
| 9f1-wiSa 1ihara1 hoc
, duced into the curriculum. AS we kick ur
an eternal fuss with Sweden to let all thu
world know that we: are not 'Swedes,. sc
81 tact tha not unmeritee
, dispensation of Providence we are cursed
, with language which In Its written; form
: [Just as in America you have the Same Ian;
guage as they have in England, only that
e, Sp sssh Ri hn Sss
, ! men for centuries have done their writing
: and speaking in that language, the preachin,
,, of the gospel in the churches for centurie!
authors have developed it into a; power an
grace which leaves nothing to be- desired
:. At the same time since the separation from
y Denmark it has been renewed and strength
ened by a large accession Of words, an!
phrasss from the dasSf making in
{ does not satisfy the chauvinistic element
. Like nearly every other country in tn
world we have large number of dialects
!, Out of these dialects .Ivar Assem- a, grea
q self-taught linguistic genius, constructed al
= artificial language which is supposed to rep
3 | resent the very pith and marrow of the dia
Iects, Ia sort OF Armcurs extract This Ian
guage has never been spoken by living mar
: but some enthusiasts have tried to learn t
}: speak it and a number Of authors have trie
u to write in it with more or less success. B
= constant agitation the .adherents Of thi
= hypernatfonal fad have induced our legisla
l., ture to place this language, a deader languag
9 than ever was Greek or Latin because It ha
u never. been alive, on a par with the Twin
q language of the country so that it must. no.
q be taught in the schools and in the entrapc
q examinations to the university the two Nor
n wegian compositions required may both
y written in the Landsmaal, In which cast
!, however, the candidate is required to sho'
Q by a third written exercise that he is is ais
= acquainted with the living language of til
HOW utterly insignificant the demand fo
this reform Is at the present time is shown b
q the fact that out Of the $40 candidates at th
: years examination only one wrote his paper
e in this language. r This measure Is ne
n manifestation OF the tendency prevailing
q certain quarters: to encourage the ,Wildes
l. individualism, opposed to unity, disciplr
g and order. Our leading linguists, universit
~ professors and our great authors have Ell
l. tered a most vigorous protest against it an
l.. a few days before. parliament O. protest wa
IT handed in bearing 80, 600 signatures.
,e BjornstJerne RJornsons Ways.