The New York herald., 1921-03-07
SPANISH LEADS IN
LANGUAGE STUDY
German Drops Almost Ont OF
Sight in City's High
Schools.
FRENCH MUSTER 10000
Few Italian Scholars, but More
Learn Latin for College
Purposes.
FRENCH MUSTER 10000

Figures which have just been made
up by the foreign language department
Of the Board Of Education show that
the study of German. once in high favor
among the oity's high school pupils. has
declined within the last four years %
such an extent that only $50 pupils arc
giving 1t any attention now. as against
29.774 who were studying It in 1916.
or the Ss6 boys and girls who are
studying it to-day all are pupils In the
senior high schools. for in the Junior
high schools, although between 16. 1000 and
1900 pupils are students of language.
not single one has elected to take a
course In German. The study of Span
ish on the other hand, has become enor-
mously popular with high school stu
dents. Nearly 10000 are studying it.
French is next. with the enrolment well
above 10000.
For a number of years the cities Of the
United States contained thousands of
fathers an1 mothers VINO looked upon
German as the most desirable language
their children could acquire as a supple
ment TO their own, such was the force of
tradition that Germany had a sort of
stranglehol3 upon knowledge. Then Ger
many was driving hard with her COM
mercial products NJ the big and little
markets of the world and 1t was imag-
ined that IL n lad when he became a
merchant Or manufacturer were to hope
to hold his own 1t would be wei for him
to be able to read and write German.
BY the time this country went to war
nearly all of the caildren who had made
up the classes In German already had
dropped II. When war was formally de-
clared the Board Education dropped
it. too. 1t was put back in the curricu-
lum In the autumn following the armis-
tice but with the strong prejudice In
this country against everything German
found little favor with the scholars. Last
year there were 532 high school pupils
grinding az il, and this year there are
1856.
There are 110 teachers Of languages
in the junior schools and 400 in the
senior ones, and these minister to
classes in which the pupils have elected
courses as follows: In the senior
schools 1894 are studying Spanish.
22.245 French. $4,000 Latin, $50 German
and 24J Italian In the junior schools
French predominates with S,743 stu
dents. 5000 are studying Spanish. 1000
Latin and 246 Italian. These figures
take in girl students as well as boys
and include all the high schools in the
five boroughs. No one concerned with
the teaching of languages in the city's
schools seems 10 know by what means
the knowledge that Spanish is a useful
tongue to know found the circulation that
II has among New York school children.
Since practically all the children who
were studying German before the war
have graduated from high school. those
who dropped II when the war arrived are
not studying Spanish now. And Yet fig-
ures on file show that the proportion OF
those who studied German and Spanish
before the war are about the same as
those who are studying II after except
that tho numbers have been reversed
Mostly the pupils who are studying
Spanish are in the commercial classes of
the high schools. and they expect ii to
be OF use to them as trade with the
Latina merican Countries shall have de-
yeloped by the time they are in business
positions. French is favored about &C
rluch now as IL ever was, which has al
ways been a good deal. and is chosen
mostly by the pupils who expect to go on
from high school TO college.
About the only ones who are studying
German are students who expect to fol-
low scientific careers and few who are
pronouncedly of German blood and tradi-
ton. There are a few more studying
Italian now than formerly, but they, too.
have taken II up mostly for reasons of
race and tradition and not because they
are able to see any money in II