SON VOCES CASTELLANAS Señor Editor de Hispania: En el interesante artículo, Some Impressions of South America, que en el último número de HISPANIA publica el Dr. Coester, se han deslizado, seguramente por descuido, algunos ejemplos de chilenismos (piso, escritorio, papas. etc.) los cuales son voces de puro abolengo castellano y de corriente uso hoy día. Llamo la atención sobre esto de un modo no privado pensando en el interés de los lectores de la revista. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY E. BUCETA STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC.. REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912, Of HISPANIA, 1ublished quarterly in 1918 at Stanford University, California, for October 1, 1918. STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) 53. COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Aurelio M. Espinosa, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the editor and publisher of the HISPANIA, and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in Section 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, to wit: 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and busi ness manager are: Publisher, Aurelio M. Espinosa, Stanford University, California. Editor, Aurelio M. Espinosa, Stanford University, California. Managing Editor, Aurelio M. Espinosa, Stanford University, California. Business Manager, Alfred Coester, Brooklyn, N. Y. 2. That the owners are the members of The American Association of Teachers of Spanish: President, L. A. Wilkins, New York, N. Y. Treasurer and Business Manager, Alfred Coester, Brooklyn, N. Y. 3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: None. 4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company, but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant's full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest, direct or indirect, in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. AURELIO M. ESPINOSA. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 9th lay of January, 1919. [SEAL] (My commission expires December 14. 1922.) FLORENCE C. HARTNELL.. HISPANIA VOLUME II May, 1919 NUMBER 3 THE POSITION OF SPANISH IN THE CURRICULA OF THE HIGH SCHOOLS (A paper read at the annual meeting of The American Association of Teachers of Spanish, December 28, 1918, in New York.) It has been the good fortune of the present speaker to serve since 1916 on an Interlocking Committee on the Coördination of Language Study for the High Schools of Illinois. The committee was composed of three members: the State Supervisor of High Schools (who is an ex-Latinist), the professor of English at the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, and the present speaker. After two years of work we presented a report containing eight specific recommendations, to wit: 1. A recommendation to the language teachers of the State that in all language classes a distinct effort be made to coördinate the roots of the various languages taught in the school. For example, the Latin teacher will, to a greater extent than has hitherto been the case, call the pupils' attention to the similarity of roots not only in English and Latin but also in French and Spanish. In the same way the English teacher will remind the pupils that certain English words are not so very different in appearance from Spanish, French, or Latin words. 2. A recommendation that supervised study be adopted as soon as possible for all language courses, so that the study of languages may be placed upon a veritable laboratory basis. This recommendation would naturally be coupled with a recommendation made some years ago at a high school conference to the effect that language classes be limited to a maximum registration of twenty pupils. 3. A recommendation that where two-year high schools now exist junior high schools be at once created by transferring from the grade-school administration to the high-school administration the seventh and eighth grades, thus strengthening those particular schools both financially and otherwise. 4. A recommendation that where junior high schools have already been established so that we may count upon the advantages of a six-year high-school program, the foreign-language sequence in the college preparatory course be as follows: Spanish, Latin, French, and German. 5. Where the standard four-year high school is concerned, the language sequence for the college preparatory course shall be Spanish, Latin, and French. 6. A recommendation that for the six-year non-preparatory course the language sequence be Spanish, French, and German. 7. Similarly in the four-year non-preparatory curriculum the language sequence shall be Spanish and French. 8. A recommendation that serious effort be made to improve the English in normal school and college classes of prospective teachers, to the end that a generation hence the pupils coming from the high schools to the colleges may possess a greater mastery of English than is at present the case. One means to this end would be the adoption even in normal schools of a modified form of supervised study in all subjects. This would mean that the prospective teachers would be kept more constantly in contact with their own teachers, whose English is presumably better than that of their pupils. These pupils (the aforesaid prospective teachers) would thus become better masters of English. For our purposes today we need discuss only the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh recommendations. But as you will have noticed, this committee, appointed in 1916, has been considering many of the same problems that were studied by a committee of distinguished British scholars which was appointed by Prime Minister Asquith in 1916. The British committee's report has just been published and contains much food for thought. Before proceeding with our report I should like to quote a few of the most significant passages of the British report:1 "37. No country can afford to rely on its domestic stores of knowledge. The whole civilized world is a coöperative manufactory of knowledge. In science, technical and pure, in history, antiquities, law, politics, economics, philosophy, new researches are constantly leading to new discoveries, new and fruitful ideas. are giving new pointers to thought, new applications of old principles are being made, old stores are being rearranged, classified, and made available for new purposes. In this work all the civilized countries of the world collaborate, and in no branch of knowledge, abstract or concrete, disinterested or applied to the uses of man, can the specialist neglect the work of foreign students. To obtain access to these sources of knowledge some languages are more useful than others, but many have at least a limited utility. The knowledge contributed by foreigners to the common store is useful to commerce and industry, but most of all it is needed in the universities which have all learning for their province. * * * * * "38. For the acquisition of information not to be found in English books a reading knowledge is sufficient. But for the general widening of the bounds of knowledge a speaking knowledge is also valuable to the ambitious student. Intercourse with foreign scholars, and visits to foreign universities, are of great value; and therefore even the speaking knowledge should not be underrated by those who have the increase of knowledge mainly in view. "39. The war has made this people conscious of its ignorance of foreign countries and their peoples. A democratic government requires an instructed people, and for the first time this people is desirous of instruction. Such instruction cannot in the nature of things be universal; it must proceed from the more instructed to the more ignorant. It cannot be said that before the war, knowledge of foreign countries and their peoples 1 Report of the Committee Appointed by the Prime Minister, to Enquire into the Position of Modern Languages in the Educational System of Great Britain. Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty. London, 1918. was sufficient in ministers, politicians, journalists, civil servants, university professors, schoolmasters, men of business, or in any class of those whose function it is to instruct or guide the public. Further, those few who had important knowledge to impart found no well-informed and interested public to take up and spread this information. Thus the masses and the classes alike were ignorant to the point of public danger. Ignorance of the mental attitude and aspirations of the German people may not have been the cause of the war; it certainly prevented due preparation and hampered our efforts after the war had begun; it still darkens our counsels. Similar ignorance of France, greater ignorance of Italy, abysmal ignorance of Russia, have impeded the effective prosecution of the war, and will impede friendly and coöperative action after the war is over. We need a higher level of instruction in those whose duty it is to enlighten us; we need a far greater public well informed and eager to understand; we need in all some interpenetration of knowledge and insight. The gradual dissipation of national ignorance is the greatest aim of Modern Studies. They can only work through the few to the many, through the many to the multitude. But neither the higher instruction of the few, nor the broader instruction of the many, nor the dissemination of sound views in the multitude, can be safely neglected in a democratic country. In this field Modern Studies are not a mere source of profit, not only a means of obtaining knowledge, nor an instrument of culture; they are a national necessity. "40. For the acquisition of sound knowledge of any foreign country a speaking knowledge of the language is the first necessity. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens traveled in France before the war; but only a minimal percentage got any knowledge of the French people, because the others could not converse with the inhabitants in their own language. Of those who knew the language only a fraction had the historical and literary knowledge and the general enlightenment to make the best use of foreign travel and residence. Here also many must be instructed in order that a few may make good. Speaking is indispensable for this purpose, but reading is also necessary. "65. The importance of any language may be judged by the |