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is apt to jump to the conclusion that it is six of one and half a dozen of the other, and try to soothe both sides by glossing over their respective accusations. But it is not always six of one and half a dozen of the other.

And in a case like the present an attempt to make peace by pooh-poohing the mutual charges would be as foolish as to try to heal a wound with the poison still in it. The allegations, for instance, we make against Germany of disturbing the peace of the world by a monstrous aggression, of dishonorable and cruel warfare, can not be disposed of simply by saying "Lies," or by minimizing their gravity. The cure for the national enmity is daylight-the fullest examination of the evidence.

So long as the war lasts the examination of the evidence must be carried on under somewhat restrictive, and even disturbing, conditions. Scholars in England and scholars in Germany, fain to believe, whatever they may suppose each other's nation to have done, in the good will of each other individually, must recognize that for the present a disagreement in the minor premiss constitutes a bar to intercourse. Yet a German scholar would meantime be reasonable in thinking that if his old fellow-workers in England believe frightful things to have been done in Germany's name, they do not believe it simply on hearsay, or because they have read it in the papers, but because there seems to them to be damning evidence; and an English scholar meantime would be reasonable in recognizing that the German can not be expected to admit the guilt of his own people till the evidence is before him in a completer measure than is possible today.

There is indeed already one fact which stands out so prominently that it can be questioned neither in Germany nor England, and which makes a material difference when one considers the mutual accusations-the fact that Germany is a country much more strictly centralized under a much more autocratic government. Germans often point out with pride the advantages which accrue to them from this firmer organization, and an Englishman may acknowl

edge that there are some real advantages. But there are other consequences of this form of government which must be taken into the bargain. Political opinion in Germany is controlled and shaped by the government to a degree impossible in the more democratic atmosphere of England. If the mass of British people were shown to be innocent of aggresive intention, that would be some security that the British Government could not pursue an aggressive national policy. In Germany the mass of the people might be peacefully disposed without affording any similar şecurity as to the intentions of the supreme government. Beliefs in England grow up, at any rate, under the play of free criticism; the German charges against England seem to be like gramophone records of an official pattern, rendered without any individual thought by one human machine after another; and you feel that to argue with those who reproduce the stereotyped phrases would be like trying to argue with a gramophone.

VII

THE PLACE OF READING IN THE MODERN LANGUAGE COURSE

Nothing helps a teacher so much in planning and carrying thru a course of study with a class as to see clearly before him the object which he wishes to attain. Yet nothing is more difficult at the present moment than for the teacher of modern languages to arrive at any such clearness of aim. He might be able to choose among the variety of methods recommended to him were he sure what result he is seeking to achieve. But when he is informed on good, tho varying authority, that he should teach his pupils to read, write, speak, understand and translate the foreign language with ease, or is sharply criticized because they are found lacking in one or more of these points, when he considers the magnitude of the task thus allotted him in comparison to the amount of time allowed for it in the school program, he is apt to become discouraged or confused and at the end of the course his pupils will probably be found in the same condition.

Germany has done much during the last few years to improve the methods of modern language teaching and to raise this subject to something like its proper place in the estimation of school authorities. Among all the men who have helped in this movement none has done as much, and surely none is so well known here, as Max Walter, Director of the Musterschule at Frankfort on the Main. In the program of that school the object of the course in modern languages is defined as: first, intelligent reading of the whole literary language; second, intelligent understanding of every-day speech; third, active use of the language up to two or three thousand words.

The Germans, however, allow for the study of a modern

language about twice as much time in the classroom and in preparation as we are able to do in our schools. This is owing to the much longer school hours, the earlier period at which modern language study is begun and the larger amount of work expected from the pupils. It is therefore impossible for us to try to accomplish all that they do and we must perforce omit something.

You will notice the relative importance given in the German school program to the reasons for learning a modern language: first, to read it; second, to understand it; third, to speak it. Yet in Europe the power of speaking a modern language is much more important than it is here, for there different peoples dwell close together and must of necessity constantly meet in business and social life. Very few of our pupils, on the other hand, will ever need to speak French or German, but to all of them the power to read one or both of these languages will prove a most valuable possession. They will use it in their business, as well as in technical, scientific and professional work of all kinds, and will find it invaluable as a key to the literature of the great nations which stand in the forefront of modern civilization. To gain fluency in speech is a matter of much time and can only be attained and kept up by individual work and by constant practise. It is, like playing the piano, almost more a matter of muscular than of intellectual training. But if we can teach our pupils to read and understand the foreign language well and to speak it a little, they can easily acquire whatever fluency they need in speaking or writing when the chance for practise or the opportunity for use arises. Therefore the acquisition of ease in reading the language should be the first aim of our instruction. Now it is evident that if the power to read the foreign language is the main object of the course, everything else must be made tributary to that. This by no means implies that grammar and oral work are to be omitted, only that they are to be used mainly as helps toward learning to read. In every language we need grammar as the framework, especially for older pupils. Oral work, too, is

absolutely necessary in order to increase and build up vocabulary and to make the foreign language a living thing. The ear must be trained to understand readily if the student is ever to read with ease and pleasure and to have enjoyment of style, or Sprachgefühl. The teacher should use the foreign tongue constantly in the classroom and should encourage the pupils to do so as much as time will allow. But we must rely upon reading to supply the mass of words necessary as a foundation for the real knowledge and use of any language.

In discussions of the problems of modern language teaching we often find a great lack of clearness as to the distinction between reading and translation, yet these are two absolutely different things. Learning to read a language is a process of acquiring new symbols for objects and ideas. Translation is a process of comparing two sets of symbols. The latter is an extremely difficult process and one which is especially hard for young people, and insistence upon it often absolutely frustrates our main object, which is to teach the pupil to read the foreign language. In my opinion, which is based on experience gained in fourteen years of high school and ten of college teaching, translation in class is always dangerous, for it puts the emphasis on the English when it should be kept entirely on the foreign language. The student may look up at home any words that he needs in order to comprehend what he is reading, but he should come to class thinking only of the foreign words and should not be asked to translate, certainly not until he has already a fairly good hold on the foreign idiom. Whenever a pupil feels that he may be called upon to translate, he will come into the classroom with his own English words, not the German or French of the author he is studying, in his mind and on his lips.

Reading is the power of getting the ideas directly from the language in which they are written, and for this a large vocabulary is needed, which must be acquired by meeting again and again all the ordinary words and expressions of the language until they become perfectly familiar to

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