Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1918-05-10
CARY ON LANGUAGES
State Superintendent Views
on Teaching Foreign
Languages.

Illustration OF lightning change IN
public opinion than we have at the
present moment with respect to the
teaching of foreign languages. For
the past fifteen years the state super
intendent of schools has been saying,
in season and out, that we were de-
voting too much time and laying en-
tirely too much emphasis on the teach
ing OF foreign languages, both mod
ern and classical. University high
school inspection and university re-
quirements have crowded into our
high schools foreign languages. and
other subjects greatly in excess of the
actual needs Of these schools from an
educational point of view.
The teaching of foreign languages
in the grades is matter that inves-
tigated to my satisfaction. when my
own children were passing through
the grades. The conclusion [ arrived
at was that instruction in a ssforeign
language in the grades was practically
valueless and waste of time. The
laws of Wisconsin make provision
that any school board may permit the
teaching of foreign language in the
grades for not to exceed one hour day.
This was doubtless a concession on
the part of legislators to our large
foreign population.
Still speaking from the educational
point of view there has been an en-
ormous waste of time in this country
as result of the attempts to teach
foreign languages from the grades up
thru colleges and universities.
Everybody knows that pupils who
study foreign languages in the grades
have with rare exceptions precious
little to show for it at the end. The
same is true to large degree with re-
spect to the instruction in high
schools and in the colleges and uni
versities as well. A very large pro-
portion of university graduates who,
in the past have been compelled to
take several years of foreign language
study, failed to develop any power,
either in reading, enjoying, or speak
ing the language they sweat blood in
working off as a requirement. [ have
known men who had recently acquired
the Phi. d. degree in universities that
require d reading knowledge Of GER
tain modern languages, who were
unable to read or translate except
with grammar and dictionary standard
foreign books in their own speciality.
The meagerness Of the practical out
come from the study of foreign lam
guages, has been recognized, but the
argument or excuse has been made
that language study has very high
disciplinary value. In recent years it
has been shown in psychological lab
Oratories and in other ways that this
disciplinary value has no solid founda
tion in fact. The long and short of
it is that, educationallY speaking,
foreign languages for the average
student who studies them are an in
excusable waste of precious time. |
English. AS matter of fact, as
Latin is ordinarily taught in our high
schools, it is anything but a help to
English [ would add however, that
there are students who actually en-
joy foreign languages, who feed upon
them intellectually, and doubtless get
much profit from them, just as there
are students who feed on mathematics
AMI D5n4rS who flourish mentally on
science. There ought to be opportun-
ity for such students in our institu-
tions of learning to study foreign Ian
guages.
But what about the utility value>o
the foreign languages? Do we not
need to teach them TO young people
who plan to go into foreign countries
for various purposes? Doubtless such
opportunity ought to be offered in at
least some of our institutions, partic-
ularIy colleges and universities.
Nevertheless, it does not follow that
a thousand students should study
Spanish in order that one may possib-
ly profit by it thru commercial rela-
tions with Spain. Again, it should. be
a matter of free choice on the part
of the student in view Of what he
thinks will be useful to him in life.
Many people in discussing educa-
tional questions forget that when a
student is devoting himself to one
thing he is by that same token leay-
ing out of his education something
else that might be of equal or greater
value to him.
The reader will not cons6rue this to
mean that I am opposed to the teach
ing of foreign languages in high
schools under proper restrictions.
I do mean to say that in the past
we have come near to making the