Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-08-06
SCANDINAVIAN IN GRADED AND
COUNTRY SCHOOLS.
by Prof. J. N. Lenker. J

y =
many are debating whether to take
advantage of the state law Of teach
ing second language one hour ev-
cry school day or devote all six hours
to English only It seems reasonable,
and the. results where it has been
tried prove, that child studying a
second language one hour day and
five hours English, acquires better
marks and broader education from
the work in the eight grades than if
all the six hours are devoted to only
English. Europe and many eastern
states would not think Of adopting a
one Language education in the
grades. New York and other states
teach Latin and German in the
grades, why should not the states Of
the northwest teach Scandinavian in
the gradesq
This spirit Of Indifference to mod |
ern language teaching in elementary
education the Scandinavians have
acquired since in America, because
foreign languages are taught in the
graded schools of Scandinavia. The
first foreign language taught there,
generally German, is begun at eight
years Of age; the second, usually
English, at 10; and the third, French,
at IL. Foreign modern languages are
also the most favored subjects in tie
girls schools. At school the langu-
ages occupy more than 25 per cent
of the time for instruction. Scandi-
navian children in America should
have at least as good chances as the
children in Scandinavia. Prof.
Mommson, the famous German au-
thor Of the 'History Of Rome" says,
Ito be able to speak one language
/ makes us human beings; to be able
to speak two Languages makes us edu-
Gated human beings" Goethe says,
"who does not know foreign langu-
ages knows nothing Of his own" It
\ is a fact that a child can study two
L languages at the same time and 10
as we'll in each, as he would if all his
time were devoted to either language
y alone" Such is the opinion of an
: expert technic authority on this
question.
SCANDINAVIAN AND GERMAN
AMERICAN FARMERS.
Three-fourths of our 669,556 for
II eign-born white farmers, according
= to the census Of 1910, are German
r, and Scandinavians: 307,874 Ger
- mans in the broader sense, including
Austrian, Swiss, Holland and Rus
sian Germans; 1850 Scandinav-
ians (Sweden 67,453, Norway 3d.
742; Denmark 28,375); British and
" Irish rank third, 1888 ENGLAND
39,728, Ireland 1880; Scotland 10,-
10 220, Wales 4,1l0); Romance nations
only 16,446 (Italy 1854, France s.
= 1922. Considering their numbers the
30 Irish and Italians furnish few farm
ers. These figures prove that there
is no danger Of many languages, be-
sides English, German and Scandi-
navian, being called for in our coun-
'e try schools. These three languages
are Of one family, so alike and relat-
ed, that pupil Of any one Of them
learning a second will soon acquire
the third. English and Scandinav-
= ian did not unite and form German,
nor did English and German form
Scandinavian; but Scandinavian and
German did unite and form English,
) and are therefore in basic sense
# related to English as none other. In
It this English country are vast cul-
tural resources in our farming pop
ulation to be conserved by the time
e ly conservation Of the languages of
|, the farm settlements and thus hold
our boys and girls on the farms and
thus prevent our best farming SETTLE
= ments from being weakened. Give
1 German and Scandinavian farming
f boys and girls good chance to learn
}: their parents language thoroughly
: by studying it one full hour daily,
+ they will then soon learn one an
4 others languages and know three
:, languages instead of one There is
no excuse why the English, German
and Scandinavian children, if taught
It. in all the grades as is done in Eu-
rope, should not learn all three Ian
guages, as they are so alike. When
they then intermarry they will un-
v derstand each other better, there will
= be less divorces and fewer will desert
the old farm homesteads and despise
the companions Of their youth. An
e agricultural education should include
h German and Scandinavian.
,y PRESENT AND FUTURE OUT =
LOOK.
Il The IS universities in the United
States teaching Scandinavian
Swedish, Danish, Old Morse and Ice
landic are doing excellent work in
Il laying a broad scientific foundation
q for future study Of ancient and cur
rent Scandinavian literature and
fho1r rn1o f,oo ~