Statement from Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath

STATEMENT * It has been my view hitherto that, however valuable the study of a modern foreign language for other purposes (and its value will be readily admitted), language instruction does not necessarily constitute a proper element in the general education of the individual. A re- examination of the international relations of our country and further reflection on the matter of the study of modern foreign languages have led me to the conclusion that I should reverse that opinion. In doing so I should like to make two reservations. The first is that those students who demonstrate obvious incapacity in the learning of a foreign tongue should be exempted from this requirement. Second, the teaching of foreign languages for the general student should be conducted, in the most modern method, with emphasis on the spoken word. (Journal of Higher Education, May 1951, pp. 239-40.) * By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., reprinted in The Universit ty of Washington College of Education Record, January 1952, Volume XVIII, Number 2, page 18.