that the smattering of a foreign language which they can impart serves no educational purpose and is of no practical value in life.

When the issue is thus stated one sees at once that there is a measure of soundness in all these contentions. The committee feel that it would be futile to attempt here an answer to the question whether it is or is not desirable, in the abstract, that a foreign language be taught in the primary grades of our public schools. The question in its politico-social bearings is a very large one, but it is a question which every community must and will decide for itself in view of local conditions, and the wisdom of its decision must abide the test of experience. We believe, however, that experience is already sufficient to enable us to formulate certain general principles which should always be kept in view in the practical management of the matter under consideration.

In the first place, if a foreign language is taken up in the primary grades, it should always be as an optional study. This point seems to require no argument. The value of the study is at best so uncertain, so dependent upon circumstances of one kind or another, that the work should not be made obligatory for anyone. In the second place, it is not worth while, as a rule, that the study of a foreign language be taken up in the primary grades unless the beginner has at least a prospect and an intention of going on through the secondary school. The reason for this opinion is that what can be acquired of a modern language in the primary grades, even with the best of teaching and under the most favorable conditions, is good for nothing except as a foundation. For while it is trae that children learn quickly and easily the rudiments of "conversation” in a foreign tongue, it is also true that they forget them no less quickly and easily. The children of parents who speak German at home and expect to speak it more or less all their lives, may be taught in the primary school to use the language a little more correctly; but if they leave school at the age of 12 or 14, they inevitably drop back into the speech habits of those with whom they associate, and their school training thus becomes, so far as the German language is concerned, a reminiscence of time wasted. The children of parents who speak English at home may get a smattering of German at school; but if they leave school at the age of 12 or 14 they soon forget all they have learned.

In the third place, if a foreign language is taught in the primary grades, it should be by teachers who handle the language easily and idiomatically. Classes should be as small as possible and there should be at least one exercise on every school day. Infrequent lessons in large classes amount to nothing. It is important that the teacher know his pupils intimately and be able to adapt his instruction to their individual needs. The general aim should be to familiarize the learner with the vocabulary and phraseology of the spoken language and to teach him to express himself readily and correctly in easy sentences. The free use of objects and pictures is to be recommended.

In what has just been said we have had in view the usual arrangement of work, in accordance with which the secondary or high school is supposed to begin with the ninth grade (the average pupil being then about 14 years old) and to extend over a period of four years. Grades below the ninth we have classed as primary. But while this is still the typical arrangement for the country at large, schoolmen have here and there lengthened the high school by extending it downward; in other words, by making provision that some of the solid disciplinary studies of the secondary period shall begin in the seventh or eighth grade. There appears to be strong argument in favor of this plan. It is urged by thoughtful schoolmen that our American high school has become congested; that the increased requirements of the colleges and the pressing demands of new subjects for "recognition" have given to the secondary school more work than it can do thoroughly in the traditional allotment of time. When, as sometimes happens, the colleges are blamed for this state of affairs and it is suggested that they reduce their requirements for admission, they are able to reply with much force that present

requirements, even where they are highest, are none too high unless we are willing to fall far below the standard of the Old World. The average graduate of an American high school is of about the same age as the average graduate of a German gymnasium, but the latter is further along in his studies and better prepared for higher work. We have therefore to consider the problem of strengthening the preparatory course while recognizing that the ordinary four-year curriculum can bear no further burdens and should, if anything, be simplified. Of this problem the obvious solution is to begin the proper work of the high school at an earlier date. Instead of dividing our educational years into eight primary, four secondary, and seven or eight higher, we should divide them into six primary, six secondary, and six higher.

It is probable then that the six-year high-school course will meet with increasing favor, for the idea is a good one. At the same time we can not expect that the now usual organization of school work will be changed immediately or even rapidly, and for this reason the model courses to be described below have been drawn up primarily with reference to existing conditions. Our principal object in touching here upon the subject of the six-year secondary curriculum was to prepare the way for an expression of the opinion that, where such extended courses are provided, a modern language can be very advantageously begun in the seventh grade.

Whether Latin or a modern language should come first in a well-ordered course of study is a question upon which teachers differ. It is one of the questions upon which, in the existing state of psychological and pedagogical science, it is just as well not to dogmatize. In fixing the order of studies in any school course, practical considerations of one kind or another will often outweigh general argument. Probably the sanest view of the matter is that it does not make very much difference whether Latin or a modern language precedes, if only the elementary instruction in either case be rightly adapted to the learner's age and mental condition. It is often urged that the discipline afforded by the study of Latin makes the subsequent learning of a modern language easier. This is true, but the converse is no less true. In beginning the serious study of any foreign language there are certain mental habits to be formed, certain faculties to be called into play and exercised. The pupil must learn how to study. He must become familiar with strange forms and with their equivalent in his own tongue. He must learn what idiom means and how to translate; must learn to observe, compare, and think. For the purpose of this elementary discipline one language is as good as another, if only the teaching be intelligent; and the discipline of the first linguistic study makes the second easier. In general, it is safe to assert that the average boy or girl of 12 will take more kindly to French or German than to Latin. The modern language is easier and more interesting. It seems more real and practical. Progress is more rapid. The value of the Latin has to be taken on trust, that of the modern language is more obvious to the juvenile mind. For children of 12 the Latin grammar is a very severe study. It means usually for many months little more than a loading of the memory with paradigms, a blind investment of labor for the sake of a mysterious future profit which the learner can not comprehend. The elementary reading matter is usually dull stuff, devised to illustrate grammar. Up through Cæsar's Commentaries there is almost nothing to touch the feeling, to feed the imagination, or to suggest a real connection with the pupil's own life. It is all a grind; in its time and place, to be sure, a very useful grind. We believe in it heartily. But the question is whether for children of 12 it is not best to break the force of the initial impact with Latin by using a modern language as a buffer.

It may also be remarked, finally, that one who wishes to acquire a modern language thoroughly will always do well to begin in childhood. The later period of youth is distinctly a bad time to begin. In childhood the organs of speech are still in a plastic condition. Good habits are easily formed; bad habits more easily

corrected. The mind acts more naively, and the memory is tenacious of whatever interests. Forms of expression are readily mastered as simple facts. Later in life, in proportion as the mind grows stronger, it also grows more rigid. The habit of analyzing and reasoning interferes more or less with the natural receptivity of the child. The fixation of speech habits in the mother tongue makes it increasingly difficult to acquire even a moderately good pronunciation, and perfection is usually out of the question.

SECTION VI.-PROPOSAL OF THREE NATIONAL GRADES OF PREPARATORY INSTRUCTION IN THE MODERN LANGUAGES.

Thus far this report has not dealt specifically with requirements for admission to college. In accordance with the idea embodied in the resolution referred to in Section I, we have approached our subject from the point of view of the secondary schools. We have endeavored to state and explain the principles which should be kept in view in order to render our school work in French and German as valuable as possible to the learner. We have recognized that the secondary school does not exist solely or even mainly for the sake of its preparatory function; and what we have said would be in the main true, and we hope valuable, even if there were no colleges. Nevertheless the preparatory function of the secondary school is obviously of very great importance. In practice secondary courses are shaped quite largely with reference to college requirements. The school naturally looks to the college as a regulative influence. It turns to the college catalogue, learns what must be done to prepare its pupils for admission, and concludes, not unnaturally, that this is about what ought to be done from an educational point of view. In the absence of any central control of education in the United States this regulative influence of the college is the most potent agency at our command for creating and maintaining a high standard of secondary teaching. We come, then, to the subject of secondary instruction as related to college requirements.

For the purpose of simplifying the relation between the colleges and the secondary schools and for the purpose of securing greater efficiency and greater uniformity in the work of the schools, it is hereby proposed that there be recognized, for the country at large, three grades of preparatory instruction in French and German, to be known as the elementary, the intermediate, and the advanced, and that the colleges be invited to adopt the practice of stating their requirements in terms of the national grades.

Explanatory.-The proposed three grades are designed to correspond normally to courses of two, three, and four years, respectively, the work being supposed to begin in the first year of a four-year high-school course, and to proceed at the uniform rate of four recitations a week. The elementary course is designed to furnish the minimum of preparation required by a number of colleges in addition to the Latin and Greek of the classical preparatory course. The intermediate course is designed to furnish the preparation required by many colleges which permit the substitution of a modern language for Greek. The advanced course is designed to furnish the highest grade of preparation of which the secondary school will ordinarily be capable in a four-year course.

With respect to the time required, in years and in hours per week, for the satisfactory completion of the work to be outlined below, it should be said that the committee has no thought of imposing upon the schools an inflexible programme. Teachers will continue to make their programmes in accordance with their own judgment and convenience. The rapidity with which the proposed work can be done will, of course, vary greatly in different schools, with the age and aptitude of pupils, the size of classes, the efficiency of teaching, and according as the beginner of French or German has or has not studied Latin. It makes no small difference whether the modern language is begun in the first year or in the third year of the high-school course. In attempting to draw up model courses, however, the com

mittee obviously had to make some definite assumption with regard to the time of beginning and the number of recitations per week. It was also necessary to provide for the case of the work beginning in the first year, since many of our best schools already have four-year courses in German or French, or both. It is clearly desirable that such courses be made as good as possible, and that they have a recognized place and value in our general scheme of requirements for admission to college.

With regard to the four recitations per week let it be observed that that number has been made the basis of our calculations, not because the committee prefer it to five, or wish to recommend it to the schoo's instead of five, but because it is believed to be the smallest number that will permit the proper completion of the work proposed, if the work begins in the first year. Where a modern language is begun in the third year of a high school, it may be possible to complete the intermediate course in two years at the rate of five recitations a week, and the elementary course in proportionally less time. Where French is taken up in the last year of the classical preparatory course, it may be possible sometimes to meet the elementary requirement in one year at the rate of five recitations a week. But this will almost never be possible in the case of German, and in general the committee do not recommend one-year courses. The attempt to meet the elementary requirement in one year will result usually in a cramming process with neglect of that thorough drill upon the rudiments which is necessary for a good foundation.

In drawing up model courses the committee has had in view the needs and the conditions of the United States at large. The work of the subcommittee charged with the matter was first submitted for criticism and suggestions to some two hundred secondary teachers of known ability and experience. It was then carefully revised in the light of the information and opinions gathered, and finally ran the gauntlet of thorough discussion in the committee of twelve. It is believed to represent the best intelligence of the country; to set a standard which is high, but not too high, and to be throughout entirely practicable. Teachers who do not find their own ideas perfectly expressed by the scheme will please remember that the committee had to find its way among a multitude of counselors.

SECTION VII.-THE ELEMENTARY COURSE IN GERMAN.

(a) THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION.

At the end of the elementary course in German the pupil should be able to read at sight, and to translate, if called upon, by way of proving his ability to read, a passage of very easy dialogue or narrative prose, help being given upon unusual words and constructions; to put into German short English sentences taken from the language of every-day life or based upon the text given for translation, and to answer questions upon the rudiments of the grammar as defined below.

(b) THE WORK TO BE DONE.

During the first year the work should comprise: (1) Careful drill upon pronunciation; (2) the memorizing and frequent repetition of easy colloquial sentences;

1 In the spring of 1896 representatives of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia. Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania met in New York and, in conference with representatives of a number of prominent Eastern preparatory schools, agreed upon a scheme of uniform requirements which has since been accepted by the institutions concerned. The modern-language conference framed an elementary and an advanced requirement in French and in German. The clementary requirement of the New York conference is substantially the same as that proposed by this committee, and their advanced requirement is nearly identical with our intermediate requirement. Slight differences appear in phraseology, in estimates of time required, and in the number of pages suggested for reading. But these differences are insignificant. It is believed therefore that the six prominent institutions which have already made so good a beginning in the unification of entrance requirements will have no difficulty in adapting their statements to the scheme which is here proposed for the country at large.

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(3) drill upon the rudiments of grammar, that is, upon the inflection of the articles, of such nouns as belong to the language of every-day life, of adjectives, pronouns, weak verbs, and the more usual strong verbs, also upon the use of the more common prepositions, the simpler uses of the modal auxiliaries, and the elementary rules of syntax and word order; (4) abundant easy exercises designed not only to fix in mind the forms and principles of grammar, but also to cultivate readiness in the reproduction of natural forms of expression; (5) the reading of from 75 to 100 pages of graduated texts from a reader, with constant practice in translating into German easy variations upon sentences selected from the reading lesson (the teacher giving the English), and in the reproduction from memory of sentences previously read.

During the second year the work should comprise: (1) The reading of from 150 to 200 pages of literature in the form of easy stories and plays; (2) accompanying practice, as before, in the translation into German of easy variations upon the matter read, and also in the off-hand reproduction, sometimes orally and sometimes in writing, of the substance of short and easy selected passages; (3) continued drill upon the rudiments of the grammar, directed to the ends of enabling the pupil, first, to use his knowledge with facility in the formation of sentences, and, secondly, to state his knowledge correctly in the technical language of

grammar.

(c) SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER.

The following paragraphs are submitted in the interest of good teaching, and not in the interest of the most expeditious preparation for college. It is well known that a capable boy or girl can be crammed for a college examination in any subject in much less time than a proper training in the subject would require. Here, however, we are concerned with the proper training. The college entrance examination is admittedly an imperfect test of attainment in a modern language. Where candidates are numerous and the time limited, the examination is necessarily in writing; and then the only available test of the ability to read is the ability to translate, while pronunciation and readiness of speech are not tested at all. It is evident, then, that a good symmetrical training in the secondary school must keep in view more things than are likely to be "required" of the candidate at his examination for admission to college. In what follows we shall take up the more important points that are involved in the teaching of beginners and make some practical suggestions-suggestions that are by no means intended to prescribe a routine, but rather to state and explain guiding principles.

(1) Pronunciation.-It is hardly necessary to say that the first matter of importance for the beginner is the learning of a good pronunciation. Drill upon the subject should be kept up steadily and inexorably until right habits are firmly fixed; because wrong habits formed at the outset are very persistent and very difficult to correct. In attempting to imitate his teacher's utterance of the strange German sounds the learner will at first neither hear nor reproduce correctly, but will utter rough approximations of his own. It is necessary to train both his ear and his vocal organs. In doing this most teachers rely only upon oft-repeated imitations of their own pronunciation; and this is the best reliance, always supposing that the model itself be good. What usually happens, however, is that teachers cease or slacken their drill too soon. They find it dull business. After correcting some faulty utterance a score or two of times, they conclude that the result obtained will "do," that it is the best obtainable, that practice will make perfect-in the future. But the learner, being no longer regularly brought to book for his faults, perpetuates them, and makes no further progress except to pronounce badly with greater facility. In this way is acquired the slovenly pronunciation with which too many leave school.

The opinion is sometimes expressed that it is not worth while to take great