Title: "Die Rechte Bildung": Comments on the Harvard Report
Abstract: THE TEACHER of German may be highly gratified to read that his extolled for its value to prospective scientists. Its position termed unique in this respect and in a footnote the reader's attention called to the fact that Scandinavian, Dutch, Swiss, Polish and Balkan work, as well as that of Russian and Oriental investigation is, or was until recently, published in full or abstracted in German. This boost to German all very nice, except that it a lefthanded compliment. Twice German, together with Spanish, referred to as a tool. The Committee admits that a student having studied German as a tool might conceivably read Schiller, but the cultural possibilities are not stressed. Despite the fact that the scholarly authors speak much of a deeper understanding of the humanities and of the free man universal in his motives and sympathies, their program an amazingly inadequate one. Aside from the fact that they regard German and Spanish largely as tools, (German for the scientist; Spanish for that job in South America), and do not mention so humanistic a as Italian at all, the members of the Committee have the most bizarre notions of teaching in general. They are either unacquainted with or completely ignore recent literature on the subject. Among the more amazing statements are: The aim of foreign teaching is not to give a practical command of the new language, but to improve (illuminate) one's English. There no better practice in reading or in writing English than translation. Those who have a need of a foreign for research can get it in intensive summer courses. The chief difficulty in teaching a to get the students to appreciate the meanings of foreign words and idioms in their relationship to English (a Copernican step). Only a comparatively few, who can profit by it, should go on with study. As a possible solution, experimentation with general language recommended. If it survives it may well become the core of English teaching in the first year of high school. In other words, the Committee not interested in the learning
Publication Year: 1946
Publication Date: 1946-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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