Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-11-22
SCANDINAVIAN cuAeES
CT OUR COUNTRY
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
(By j. N. Lenker, D. d.
XIV.

XIV.
Our discussion naturally divides
all people into two classes: those who
know only one language and those
who know two or more. It is diff.
cult for the one class to appreciate
the arguments Of the other. The one
languaged person knows little Of the
profit and pleasure of reading and
speaking two or more tongues. The
person speaking two or more langu-
ages is tempted to be impatient with
persons who sincerely regret they
speak only one language and do no.
thing to prevent children from max
ing the same mistake. All readily
agree that with one language stan
dard Of education no nation can rise
to the highest standard Of culture,
yet they do little or nothing for two
languages. Fortunately. The Amer
lean people in the broad and true
sense are above one-language STAN
dard, not by virtue of the moral and
financial support Of our political or
educational systems, but by virtue Of
our immigrant population, who have
raised our national, cultural and Ian
guage standards far higher than can
be understood by one-language peo-
pie, and for which they receive too
little credit. AS the highest culture
cannot be attained by one language,
it is unpatriotic not to conserve the
languages We have, even if we are
considered unpatliotic for doing so.
What the immigrants brought to our
nation, without money and without
price, are birthrig gifts that should not
be lightly esteemed. The question is,
can we keep up our high language
standard they set? The only way is
to raise our whole school system
from kindergarten to. university to
the European standard in philology.
We have the school funds, the pupils,
the teachers, the executive in all
parts Of our vast country. to do it.
We can. Will we?
broadcast INSTEAD OF MAR
ROWEST BASIS.
We fear that our constant refer
ence to the Germans and Scandinav-
ians, as concrete illustrations, for
whose press and communities we es-
pecially write, may lead some to ov-
erlook the broadest possible basis
that prompts us. The question is not
whether our country schools shall
teach this or that particular langu-
age, favor this or that particular ma
tionality. The question really has
nothing to do with favoring any par
ticular- Language or race. The ques-
ton is whether our nation, as whole
will for her own sake conserve and
develop its vast ingual resources and
talents by Introducing the most mod
ern reform methods Of teaching any
modern languages the people Of the
community may want. The argu-
ments for learning a second and third
language do not apply to one nation
and not to others. They are as broad
as the race. No nation, large or
small, can ignore them. It is very
evident that two or three language
standard, regardless Of what those
languages are, will be a blessing to
the home in uniting all the members,
to the church in furnishing broader
views, to the school in getting better
results and to the state in making
more loyal and efficient citizens.
Hence the home, church, school and
state should be, and are being inter-
ested in thoroughly discussing the
question of solving it right for future
years. American magazines are SER
iously discussing the subject. Prof.
A. F. Kuersteiner Of Indiana Univer-
sity in last months "School Review
says: "The most urgent need Of mod
ern language instruction is more
time. I believe in the high school
course language instruction should
predominant as it does in correspond
ing schools Of Germany and OF
France. / believe, too, that the Com
mittee Of Ten was right when it said
that any large subject whatever, tc
yield it's training value, must be pur-
sued through several years and be
studied from three to five times g
week. Every language that is stud
led in the high schools should b.
studied at least two years, but pre-.
ferably three or four years. To mi
there is nothing more discouragin{
than to scan the schedules Of Frencl
lycees and German Gymnasia and Sc,
six or seven years given to langu
age while we, the practical Ameri
cans, indulge in that most impracti
cal delusion of trying to learn Ian
guage in two or three years." Ele
mentary German and Scandinavian
should be learned in the grammar o
graded schools before reaching tn
high school. In Germany pupils be
gin French at the age of nine an