The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-11-16
FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Only 10 of the 1903 Cities OF Over $4,000
Population Reporting Teach
Those Courses.

Only 10 cities out of 1913 OF $4,000
population or over reporting to the bu-
reall of education teach foreign languages
below the seventh grade, of the elemen-
tary school, according to statement
lust made public. In IL of these cities
German is the foreign language taught !;
in three cities German, French and Span
ish are all taught in the elementary
grades, in one city German, Italian and
Poish while in the three remaining
cities the languages taught to elemen-
tary school children are French and
Spanish, alone or in combination. In
few cities the foreign language is
taught in all grades, from the first to
the eighth; in Others the instruction does
not begin until the fifth or sixth grade
The number of elementary school chill
dren taking German ranges from 40 in
one city to $4,000 in another.
Few of the superintendent who re-
piled to the bureaus inquiry favor the
teaching of German or any other foreign
language in the lower elementary school,
though many of them believe thoroughly
in foreign language study for students in
higher schools. A California superin-
tendent SAYS: Il was in doubt before the
war. am becoming convinced now that
our public schools should teach one ma
ton, one language, one flag. The teach
ing of a foreign language below the sew
enth grade is a sentimental hold of the
old country on Americans of the second
generation" An Illinois superintendent
says "The public schools should not as
sist in perpetuating foreign language
in the home and foreign viewpoints in
the community An Iowa superlntend-
ent is careful to explain that German is
taught in the elementary grades in his
schools because "German-American
grandparents and many parents demand
it"
A typical condition is that in Balti |
more, Md, where the introduction of |
German as subject of instruction in |
elementary schools in 1874 was partly |
due to the fact that there were large |
number of German private schools in |
which the atmosphere was entirely Ger
man. By the Introduction of German
into the public schools the private
schools were eliminated and the children
gradually came under the influence of
American ideas. In this city the super
intendent reports that "The number of
pupils taking German has been reduced
so that now German is taught only in
few instances in the seventh and eighth
grades" In st. Louis instruction in Ger
man was discontinued in the SOS In
Cincinnati agitation against the contin-
uation of German in the schools has re.
suited in the reduction of the number Of |.
children studying German in the grades
from 1880 in l9l6-l7 to 1000 in 1917
Is. German has been taught in all
grades Of the elementary schools of Gin II
cinnati for rs years.
In its statement regarding the situa
ton the bureau makes the following
suggestions: There is general agreement
among educators and public men, both in
this country and abroad, that there
should be no interference with existing
high school and college provision for the
teaching of German; that knowledge of T
the German language is more important {
now than it was before the war The c
upper elementary grades, especially '
where organized in the junior high \
school, may quite properly offer foreign 4
languages, including German, but educa-
tors generally look upon the teaching Of |
foreign languages in the lower elemen-
.ary grades as of very questionable I
Va Inc - n