El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-03-01

What l am about to say on thu
necessity OF a thorough, grammatical
knowledge of the English and Span
ish languages by persons engaged 81
teachers in our public schools Gomez
from personal experience (havini
thaught in my early days IL years y
the public schools of Santa Fe). as
also. from a long, constant and care
full observation and reading OF wha'
has been done and said for the las
few years by the advocates and OF
ponents Of bilingual teaching in Ne
Mexico. / having always advocated
by word of mouth and through the
press, the proposition that in New
Mexico, because of its peculiar rac'a'
conditions. the teaching OF Spanish u
as necessary as the teaching Of Eng
lish, at least in schools where some
of the pupils are of Spanish origin,
although the advantage Of teaching
it in all our pubic schools is so APP
parent that 1t admits OF no argument
to the contrary. Omitting sentimental
or racial considerations shall dis
cuss the subject from a purely pa
triotic and civic point Of view.
Spanish the Mother Tongue
The Spanish Is the mother Ian
guage Of more than 60 per cent Of the
population of our state. In the cate
CORY OF civilized nations of the world
it is the second in Importance Of the
four principal languages. that IS II
say, the English comes first, the
Spanish second, the German third
and the French last, Four hundred
and sixty-two millions OF people
speak these four languages divided as
follows: English, 1877, 0 900; Span
ish, 119, 900, 900; German, 100000 ore;
French 100, 900, 900. OF the 119, 000, 900
who speak the Spanish language
Spain and her possessions have about
100000 the rest, $4,000, 900, in
habit all the Latin countries in Latin
America, the West indies, the LatiE
insllai possessions of the t.aited
States and the southwestern portion
(wreie'n lies New Mexico' Of our
un on: the 20 Spanish-Americal ~
pt bl.cs (leaying out BRAZIL having
about So, 1000, 900. These figure, are
t.hen from the official statistics 4
the respective countries, herein allud-
ed to, of some few years ago. Any
teacher of an unprejudiced mind will
readily see that the study and knowl-
edge of dead languages ike the
Greek and latin is Of lessN value TO
them than the study and knowledge
of the Spanish; that the only Reuse
one may have to study these dead
languages is the habit of bee ming
familiar with ancient, but deal clss-
sizes. Whilst, on the other hand the
possession of the Spanish, because OF
our geographical, economical and po-
litical situation, is a condition forced
upon us by the political changes
which revolution and revolutionary
with Mexico and Spain brought
about.
Patriotic Side of the Proposition
Periodically speaking the teachers
sole object should be the acquiring
Of a method by which he, or she, can
into the. mind of the child, with
the least possible loss of time, the
teachers knowledge of the branches
The consideration of this
point brings forcibly to us the in
controvertible conclusion that the
teacher must be able to convey to the
child, in a clear, simple and easy
name in a, so to speak, child-llke
language not only the spirit but also
he literal and constructive meaning
the subjects the child Is expected
% learn. If the child does not know
he teachers language and the
is not thoroughly familiar
with the language Of the child, is 1t
reasonable to suppose that a child un-
Ter such disadvantage will be abe
o grasp the meaning Of the teacher $
words as quick as a child of the
,eacher's nationality? An answer in
he affirmative would be an absurdity
md that is precisely what is happen
ng in nearly all our public schools
where the pupils are all, or nearly al,
Spanish origin and most of the
eachers are English-speaking and
lnacquainted with the Spanish lam
,uage. Place two children, an Eng
disappearing child and one of Span
sh origin, under such a teacher and
'ou will see that the child possessing
he teachers language has all the adj
vantage in the world over the other;
vou will see that the teacher will lose
he greater portion Of his, or her,
ime in trying to make the child OF
origin understand what she
ays; that in the meantime the Eng
ish-speaking child Isl advancing more
md more every day; you will then
earn the reason why some English
peaking teachers a that the ma
child is either dull or stubborn.
Persons talking thus lose sight of the
act that even when the teacher
.nows both languages the English
peaking child has from the very
tart, while learning English lessons,
he advantage over the Spanish boy,
ust as the native" boy would have
yer him in learning Spanish lessons.
teachers insist that the ma
lveo child will finally-after much
nd constant Observation-Disclosures
the teacher says. Such teach
RS, speak not from actual knowl-
dge but from untenable conclusions.
II course, even a drop Of water etern-
lily falling from a high leakage upon