Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-05-01

to compel anyone to learn second LAM
guage 1t is. we believe the, highest
type Of American patriotism to give the
children OF every settlement the best
possible chance to learn also the lan-
guage OF the home. II the parents so de-
sire and request 1t. The question ID not
English or. but English and another
language
Immigrant and night schools are
needed in localities to teach English.
though there isslittle danger the child
rem will not acquire English. a sys-
tematic eItort Is also needed to conserve
the immigrants mother tongues for the
sake Of the cultural treasures locked
up in them which America should APP
propriate for its use. Conservation Of
our natural resources is in the air. 1t
is American. Why is not the conserve
ton Of our cultural resources?
The facts prove that while in q pol
| itical sense we are nation Of one Ian
guage, In another sense. we are grow
| ing to be more many-tongued people.
The census Of the United States report
ed over three million more people Of
foreign birth in 1910 than in 1900. New
|
avians in America speak German.
| Again. in America as q whole 100
million people talk English and rs mill
ions Spanish and Portuguese with a
large element Of Germans and Scandin-
|avians among both. The ties that unite
these 176 millions of Americans with
the AS millions Of Europeans are being
drawn closer in all languages. 1t is
patriotic for Americans to do their part
in maintaining the ties that bind them
to their old Netherlands. Young married
folks love their new home the more, If
they love the old,
Help Rather Than Dstrimsnt in Acquir-
Ing Good English.
Another objection is that the study of
a, second language is q detriment to ac-
quiring good English. This is also a
traditional objection that travelled
from the valleys settled by the Pennsyl-
Ivania-Germans to Ohio, then to Illi-
nois and the west. There is great diff
ference between the schools In early
Pennsylvania, a hundred years ago,
when they taught nothing correctly and
our schools. today that claim to teach
everything. '->.---r~
With our modern schools, libraries,
press and telephones and the means of
rapid travel by railroad, trolly and au-
ltomobiles, there is abundant opportun-
ity to learn English well. Nothing can
prevent it, especially not the little study
of second language. *5
| The reports Of the schools in Milwau-
kee and Indianapolis. give the data of
careful investigations, which prove that
pupils taking two languages do better
school work than pupils that take only
English Some Of this data we have
published and it is familiar. More is
not needed here. The schools of Euro
pean countries prove the same. Pupils
in Germany who study French and Eng
lish speak and write German better
than English pupils do English, who
study English and only English. The
suggested time schedule of Chicago as
signs for English of the 1900 minutes
of the school week in al 795 minutes,
bill CAS-. bill sos, bIV 375, V $50, vi 800,
VII 800 and VIII 800 minutes. This, it
seems, is OVERRIDING English and the fun
damental principles Of the science of
philology, brought out and enforced by
a second language, are neglected. No
country in Europe would suggest such
a schedule for their national language.
This seems designed to remedy de-
feet in our school work. It is doubtful
if the remedy is a success. A two-lan-
guage standard, based on the home
training, would doubtless bring better
results in English, It is worthy of fair
trial. ~-.
| A thorough study Of the revolution
within the last twenty years in the
science of teaching modern languages in
elementary schools would, believe, lead
us to advocate-a three-language educa-
ton for the development and teaching
of our English tongue. It would be q
help, instead Of detriment, to learning
good English. =
Americans Possess Great Undeveloped
| 1snguage-Talsnts.
A third objection we hear is that Am
orleans cannot learn other languages
they have no talent for it. They may
not be as talented in languages as in
mathematics. They have some langu.
age talent; but it is buried. it has nc
announcement for developing. OF the
100000 people who came to the Un.
tied States since 1920 only 8 millions
spoke English when they arrived, the
other Fl millions learned English after
their arrival a difficult language fol
many, which proves they had some lin.
Iguistic talent. Why should not theil
children learn the language of thei1
home? The trouble is not with the peo
pie, but with our educational system
which gives less encouragement tt
learning a second language than do the
schools of any other highly civilized
nation. There is even no hearty en-
Encouragement to conserve the knowledge
of the home language their mothers
Taught them.
Russians rank first, they say, as lin
|guists and Scandinavians second. TIL,
former developed by expansion on land
the latter by their expansion on tn,
water. The Germans surrounded by
more languages than any other nation
ranks third. The Americans have ex
Ipanded on land and sea and are made vi
largely of German and Scandinavian
blood. If our elementary gave the op
portunity offered by Eurpean school.
and the prejudice against other langu
ages were dropped, the Europeans would
cease to refer to us as "underlanguaget
Americans" living and educating below
the international standard
From experience would plead tina
even backward pupils be given a fai
, chance to learn second language
When ten years old did not know m!
a, b, cs. When of age I spoke only Eng