Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1917-11-22
FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACH
ING

the bureau Of education teach foreign
languages below the seventh grade of
the elementary school. In twelve of
these cities German is the foreign
language taught; in three cities Ger
man, French and Spanish are all
taught in the elementary grades; in
one city German, Italian and Polish;
while in the three remaining cities
the languages taught to elementary
school children are French and Span
ish alone or in combination. In a 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
replied to the bureaus inquiry favor
the teaching Of German or any other
foreign language in the lower element
airy school, though many Of them be-
lieve in foreign language study for
students in higher schools. A Califor-
MIA superintendent says: 81 was in
doubt before the war. | am becoming
convinced now that our public schools
should teach 'one nation, one Ian
guage, one flag The teaching Of a
foreign language below the seventh
grade is a sentimental hold of the
country on Americans Of the second
generation" An Illinois superintend-
ent says: "The public schools should
not assist in perpetuating a foreign
language in the home and foreign
viewpoints in the community" An
Iowa superintendent is careful to ex-
plain that German is taught in the ele-
mentary grades in his school because
"German-American grandparents and
many parents demand it."
In it's statement regarding the situa-
ton the bureau makes the following
suggestions: "There is general agree
ment among educators and public men,
both in this country and abroad, that
there should be no interference with
existing high school and college pro-
vision for the teaching Of German;
that a knowledge of the German Ian
guage is more important now than it
was before the war. The upper ele-
mentary grades, especially where or
ganized in the Junior high school, may
quite properly offer foreign languages,
including German, but educators gen
orally look upon the teaching of foreign
es in the lower elementary
grades as of very questionable value"
With which conclusion the general
public will not at all agree. All for
eign languages, absolutely, should be
excluded from the grades, and as such
instruction is practically a waste in
both high schools and universities,
these Ianguage s-modern foreign Ian
ages-might well be tabooed there
also. The proof of their practical
value, or lack of it, Les in the fact
that probably not one person in fifty
who have taken them has found them
Of any value whatever in after life
They are studied because school
boards and college authorities require |
a modern language in various courses, |
and then are forgotten. They are not !
lernead we'll enough either to permit Of /
being read or spoken, and the time
devoted to them therefore becomes |
Just so much time utterly wasted.
General agreement among educat-
ors and public men," regarding Ger!
man in our schools and colleges will 4,
find little popular acquiescence.-
Madison Democrat.
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