Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-02
18O Colleges
In U. 5. Teach
Russian Tongue
BY JAMES G. DEANE

duced in some high schools, but
so far In only a small number.
A report by the Modern Lam
guage Association yesterday said
the rise in study of Russian
which now ranks fifth in fire.
quency of Offering in the Ma
tons colleges-ref1ects "the in
fiuence Of the Soviet Unions po-
Sition in the modern world"
But Russian still has a long
way to go to catch up with more
traditional language courses, an
Mia survey disclosed. More
than 300 colleges teach French,
and almost as many Spanish and
German.
More Students Sought
And Kenneth Mildenberger, as
ISOLATION Official, in an interview
said the Nation urgently needs
FAR more students Of both Rus
sian and other politically strate-
glc foreign tongues.
He cited a plea by Admiral
Arieigh Burke. Chief Of Naval
Operations. last September to
young Naval officers to learn
more languages. The plea was
made in Navy journal.
Mr.. Mildenbreger also said
Russian has hardly a toehold
In the countly's high schools.
He said he knew of only three
yet teaching it An official at the
Office of Education here listed
seven.
The Mia survey revealed that
even on the post-high-school
level, half of the Nations COL
leges are teaching no modern
foreign tongues beyond French,
Spanish and German.
Thirty Eight institutions, it
saio, reported Offering no for
eign language at all. The asso-
citation called this disclosure
Startling"
Was First Such Survey
The nation wide survey. first
OF its kind. was made with the
financial help of the Rockefeller
Foundation. 1t covered the 1954-5I
academic year but the associa-
ton in a special follow-up re-
port said the overall picture
isn't believed to have changed
significantly since then. Student
enrollments weren't covered.
The survey covered 971 uni
verSitieS and colleges.
1t showed French, Spanish and
German running almost neck
and neck. French was taught at
e05 institutions. Spanish at s67
and German at 825.
Other tongues Jagged far be-
hind. Italian stood fourth, at 2l2.
and Russian fifth at 1873. Portu-
guese, at SO and Swedish at 81
came next.
Chinese, spoken by some 500
million people, was listed by only
20 colleges. and Japanese by only
%. Hindi-Urdu, used by $50 mil
lion persons in India, was taught
at only six.
The survey showed a wide
scattering of various other Ian
guage offerings. but also indi-
Gated that q major tongues are
being taught by none Of the re-
porting institutions.
" Per Cent Ignored
Prof. William r. Parker. until
recently executive secretary of
the association and now a men,
Der of the faculty at Indiana
University, declared in the report
that 70 per cent of the worlds
population speak native tongues
other than those usually taught
in American colleges and uni
veI1itieS."
The association gave promi-
nent mention to the rise in
Russian-language offerings, most
of which has occurred since
World War II. But Mr.. Milden-
berger emphasized that the Rus
sian courses at present offered in
most institutions lag far behind
those in French and the other
top languages at the same in
situations.
Russian programs are rarely
of any size." and student enroll
ment and the number Of in
structors are relatively small.
he said.
On the high school level, he
said. there has even been some
resistance to introducing the
teaching of Russian.
Several parents in Hicksville,
a Long Island community near
New York City. recently with
drew children from a new high
school Russian class, he said,
although the class continued.
Parents Object
Parents don't like the idea
very much" the MIA official
said.
The MIA survey showed New
York's bia University
ranking topmost among the
Nations Misunderstanding CEN
tiers, with Al different offerings.
Next in order. as OF l954-5,
were Harvard. %. Yale. 25:
Pennsylvania and California. "a
each; Cornell. 90. Georgetown
University here and the Univer-
sis of Indiana. % each; the
University Of Washington, 10:
and Michigan and Minnesota.
IA each.
A Georgetown spokesman said
the current years foreign Ian
guage offerings also total %.
although several years ago 50
tongues we're being taught. The
university operates a special In
stitute Of Language and Lin
guistics.
Russian is taught locally at
Georgetown, American. George
Washington and Maryland Uni
versitieS. A spokesman at Cath
ole University said 1t is not
r4W.rnd ftsorn