Year: 1876




We entirely approve the action of the
Board Of Education in fixing the status OF
foreign languages N the public schools as it
has done The motion of Mr.. j. Greville
Kane, which brought the long discussed re-
port to vote, has put an end to a controversy
conducted with considerable acrimony on the
part of those who desired to see the German
language taught in all the schools. Our
Teutonic fellow citizens who waxed so warm
over the question as to betray themselves
into wild threats Of the withdrawal of twenty
thousand children from the schools, and
even to hold ''the German vote" like a
Nemesis over the heads of the Commissioners,
will, we trust, find their better reason No
one denies, and indeed the decision of the
Board afirms, that instruction in foreign lam
guages should be open to the higher classes
of the grammar schools, for to those pupils
only can such study be possible benefit.
mere smattering, such as the pupils who
cannot from various circumstances ever rise
to high grade would receive, could only be
a detriment to the elementary studies In
English. We are sure, also, that the Ger
man petitioners who aver that, our vernacu-
lar being in large part derived from Anglo
Saxon thorough knowledge of German
would materially aid in mastering the Eng
lish language are aware of the folly of such
an argument as applied to popular educa-
ton, the difference between Anglo-Saxon
and modern German being as great as be-
tween Anglo-Saxon and its modern English
derivatives. The Cubans, Italians and
French Canadians settled here would have
quite as sound an argument in asking the
introduction of their respective languages
because the English language is in ''a large
part" derived from the Latin, and Irishmen
and Scotchmen, even, might ask for Gaelic in
the schools because the word 'apron" has
Celtic root. Outside of all these arguments
is the national one-namely, that the schools
are American that their object is directly to
fit our youth for their duties as American
citizens and to take their places as intelli-
gent members of society. To accomplish
this plain but sound education is needed,
and we have no such lack of conf
dence in the English language as to
think that boy or girl cannot
learn the spelling and meaning of
its words without going outside of the Ian
guage for the roots or cognate forms in other
tongues A philologist deeply versed in
Sanskrit and familiar with all the Aryan
tongues would, of course, scout the idea of
such limited linguistic education but he
would equally cover with ridicule the idea
of learning English by studying German.
The mass of our boys and girls cannot devote
a lifetime to studying the fine shades of
meaning and form of words they must be
contented with learning our language as it
is. SO far as our public schools are con-
cerned studies in other languages must be
undertaken for their own sake and their
practical use in the business of life, and in
so limiting them the Board of Education has
acted wisely. The schooling time of our
children is in the majority of cases SO short
that to instruct them in their own language
is sufficiently difficult task. To those
whose condition in life allows or whose
talents demand longer stay in school the
opportunity of acquiring a foreign language
as IAN accomplishment should be and has
been given.