Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-01-31
MODERN LANGUAGES IN OUR
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By Prof. J. N. Lenker, D. D.

BY Prof. ]. N. Lenker, D. D.
EIGHT SCANDINAVIAN CLASSES IN
SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL MINNIE
APOLIS.
In three Of the five high schools of
the Scandinavian languages
have now been taught one and half
years. There are good prospects that
they will soon be taught in the fourth |
one.5t In the south high school 191 pu-
pills took German last term, ia Scan |
dinavian (66 Norwegian-Danish and 4s |
Swedish) and SO French. The number |
Of pupils registered for the new term to |
open Monday, January 20, is for Ger
man 76,> Scandinavian 81 GA for the |
fourth class in Norwegian-Danish and
SO for the fourth class in Swedish MAX
ing classes organized in the first two
years., So French (for some reason
large increase) and Latin IS. The in
PRODUCTION Of Scandinavian into the
south high school has made 1t perhaps
the strongest high school in modern
languages in the Northwest. Deducting
the graduates and adding the new stu
dents gives for the next term 365 pupils
in the four years course OF Latin, 262 IN
the three years course In German, I'll
60 Norwegian and 81 Swedish) in the
two years in Scandinavian and 1873 in
the three years of French. On the basis
of a three years course for all the pu-
pills Of the different languages would
rank thus: German 262, Scandinavian 256
Latin 235, French 1873 pupils. It seems
to be q mistake to give Latin four years
and modern languages only three years.
When pupils enter high school the only
language they can take is Latin, and
this gives Latin an advantage over mod
ern languages and is not fair. 1t were
better to omit the last than the first
year. Educators are becoming more
and more convinced of the value Of ear
! ly instruction in modern language
The value Of knowing another language
than ones own is unquestioned. The
high school age is not the time when a
second language can be acquired with
the greatest economy of time and effort"
Hence the Importance of introducing it
into the grades and the Kindergarten
when it will be learned quicker, easier
and better than in the high school. The
! introduction of Scandinavian into the
! south high school has developed more
life and interest in teaching other lam
guages and has helped the school in
many ways. This is only a beginning
and too much must not be expected from
the start. The demand for Scandinav
ian is growing, and only first class
teachers should be employed. The fact
that an American city, like Indianapolis,
has Al German classes in it's high
schools and 404 in the grades, indicate
how great the demand is for efficient
modern language teachers in the CEN
trail west. Why should the demand for
Scandinavian teachers not be as great
in the Northwest? The difficulty is to
secure the right teachers. Are they pre-
pairing for this unlimited field of use
fulness? There are many reasons why
they should.
LANGUAGES OF THE NORTH AND
| SOUTH COMPETING
Languages, like nations, differ accord
ing to latitude as we'll as longitude. The
languages of southern Europe-Greek,
Latin, italian, French and Spanish-in-
wade northern countries, while the Ian
guages Of Northern Europe-German,
Scandinavian, English and Russian
the nations of the south consider un-
classical, unworthy of their learning.
Yet in the last century the languages of
northern Europe have greatly gained on
the languages Of the south, and are now
in the lead.
In America the same is true In the
annual reports of high schools in north
ern cities, like Spokane for example, one
to r~;e ~ 3.l.
Greek, Latin and German taught and
; not Standardization southern langu.
) ages taught in northern city, and only
one northern language. In the Univer-
sity Of Minnesota 800 students take
French and more take Spanish than
Danish-Norwegian and Swedish combin.
ed, yet Minnesota is Scandinavian
state with but few Frenchmen and Span.
iards. Think of Scandinavian being tax.
en- by more students in the University OF
a Spanish state in the south than take
Spanish. Scandinavian in the Northwest
should be in the front instead Of in the
rear. St. Paul, Duluth, Seattle have
large Scandinavian populations and
teach ancient and modern Languages in
the high schools, but not Scandinavian
We admire the southern nations fol
their loyalty to their languages and
their zeal in spreading them. word
to the wise is sufficient.
ENDORSEMENT OF PRESIDENT OF
MILWAUKEE SCHOOL BOARD
Mr. w. L. Pieplow, the president OF
the Board of School Directors of Mil
waukee, in his annual address in 1908
said: THE teaching of the German Ian
guage in our schools opens to the boy
or girl as broad fields of literature and
as rich mines Of modern thought as are
to be found in any language Apart from
this fact it's teaching is amply justified
on educational grounds, as it is very
desirable to teach another language diff
ferent> in grammatical structure from
that of the English. The study serves
to broaden the view and to- strengthen
the mind. Experience shows that pupils
Istudying German are not only able to
carry this extra branch and do the re-
quired amount of work in other subjects,
but they gain greater power of appli-
cation than the majority of pupils who
study English only. This power, take
1t, comes from the broader training
gained from the study of the German
language"
The president of the Milwaukee board
of education continues: LET me sum-
Marie tabulation made of the failures
in the graduating classes of our district
schools in June, 1908. The total num-
Der of graduates was 14OS, 977 of whom
took German and English. The total
number of failures was so or 3.5-a very
pleasing percentage. But the striking