Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-20
THE VOICE OF
THE PEOPLE
Study of Foreign Tongues-A
Defense of the
GrOcerS

10 nc Editor Of the EUeHiH1 PadhC LcdJct:
Sir-I read in the EVENING PUBLIC
LEDGER on December 13 article in which
William .. RoNen, of the committee on
higher schools. stated that he believed the
sentiments of the whole committee were III
favor OF abandoning the study of all the for
eign Languages not only German, which
action has been seriously considered for some
time but also French. II is inconceivable,
and let us hope impossible. that the mem
bers OF the Board Of Education should give
their sanction to so blind and narrow minded
a policy.
Whom would this change affect? The high
school students. of course And the aim OF
every high school student is to enter college,
TO become college man or a college woman
To enter some universities and to enter some
courses In every college or university Il read
ing knowledge of French and German Is
required Merely because we are at war and
Alnericauism has become a national slogan,
need we neglect the fact that in the realm
of science Germany and France are years
ahead of us, although We are making remark
able and unparalleled progress? How can
student Of engineering; of science. hope TO
become more than mediocre plouder IN ms
profession unless lie can read at first fand
the works Of some Of the greatest scientists
that ever lived Pascal, I.egendre. Gay IsuS-
sac. among the French: liebig, Meyer, Won
Richter. among the Germans. not TO mention
the hosts of modern practical scientists. AL
in French and German and are not trans
lated? You may be even frantically patriotic
and as violently anti-Cerman as you wish
but you cannot destroy the superiority OF
the French and the German In the field OF
science.
Those students now in high school need
not fear the war, as most of them are too
Young. When they go to college and learn
their engineering and their science they will
he the ones TO build UP anew the devastated
countries of western Europe. for Germany
must surrender or be devastated the way
France is now. Shall they have to spend six
precious months ''over there learning the
languages when with the preparation af-
forded by as little as two years in high school
they can acquire the same knowledge in as
many weeks?
No one has more patriotism than the
writer. vet there must be sanity IN the
patriotism. The unfortunate way in which
Fritz Kreisler, the greatest living artist. was
treated Is a fine example of the extremes TO
which people will go and yet believe them
selves right and the agitation for the re-
moyaI Of these languages from the curric-
ulum is, I fear, only a repetition of the error.
In the realm of culture. too. without French
and German there II big void what is
literature without Moliere, Victor Hugo Ball
zac without Heine. Goethe and Schiller?
And the people to whom this is the natural
taste the cultured men and women of the
future are these same high school boys and
girls who want to learn all they can. Tius
there Is both the practical and the cultural
argument for the continuation of these
studies. and if piebiscite were taken of the
students am positive II would result in an
overwhelming victory for the continuation of
the study of modern languages
True Americanism consists not in shutting
our minds and our souls from outside peo-
ples and outside minds but in welcoming all
the help and inspiration we can get. that we
may make ourselves better for America and
for the world For the sake of real Ameri-
canism. then. let US have modern languages
In the public high schools. =. W. a.
philadelphia. December ~,