Alcala 1958

Johnny No Comprende By PHILIP N. NA CO ZY , B.A. Philosophy De par tme nt College for Me n nde , t ent

F ORMERLYin th is cou ntr y,as tod ay in Europ e, hi gh sch oo l stud ent s pla nn ing to go to col leg e had to take from two to fou r yea rs of a for eignlan gu ag e,be sid estwo or mor e years of Latin an d Gre ek. Consequ entl y, whe n the se stu den ts did en tercol leg e, the y were bett er ver sed in En gli sh grammar and dic tion be cau seof the pre cis eand ex ac tin g gramm arof fo re ignlan gu ag es.Th ey fou nd ver y little di ffi cu ltyin con tin uin g in col leg e for eig nlan gu ag es. In con tra st, fo re ign lan guage sin tod ay' s high sch oo ls are no lon ger req uir ed for a pro spe ctiv eco lle ge stu den t. He can stu dy F Y i i y, i e, l s l ing e t s f rei n l age, i es f' ti . ently, t s t ts ter e, tt s lis i ti n se i e ti g t' r o ign ages. · r littl iffic lty i uing e ei n ages. In tr st, ig ages 's i ls e s ective ge t.

fo re ign lan guages in hi gh school if he so cho ose s, but bec ause their imp orta ncean d val ue are no t stre ssed , the hig h sch oo l student goe s through one or two years of a fo re ign lang uag e in a disi nte res ted,slip ­ shod fas hio nand ha s on ly a vag ue con cep t of the lan gua ge. It is a fac t that today in our col leg esan enter ing stud ent who ha s had no for eig n lan guag ein high sch ool is han dic app edin hi s Englis h. Hi s gra sp of the Englis h gramm ar is ofte n dep lora ble. For eign - lan guag eteac hers in col leg e oft en have to tea ch thes e stud ents the fun dam ent als of 7th and 8th gra de Eng lish bef ore be gin nin g to tea ch ano ther lan guage . Toda y in our co lle ge s ver y few of the me n stud ents admit the need of stu dy inga for eig nlanguage. Most think it a stumb ling bloc k and a waste of tim e. Th ey think the re is no nee d to studya for eignlan guag e even for sci en tifi cand tec hn ica l res ear ch. Th ey claim there are ma ny ade qua te boo ks written in Eng lish by em inent American sci entis tsand also goo d tran slat ion s ofmo st fo re ignworks for rese arch in an y sc ien tif ic field . These same studen ts fa il to rea lize that the se same emi nen tAmeri canscien tis ts ga ine dthei r em ine nceby rese arch in works writ ten in for eign lan guage s. Th ese same stud ents do rea lize ,howe ver , that the hig hly spe cia lize d int ric aci es of mo der n tec hni ques requir e abs olu teacc u­ rac y to the nth sph ere . He nc eour res ear ch mu st cover all imp orta nt wor ks rel ati ve to f reign l se , nce l e r t , l t t s f ign e rested, • i n l t ge. t i t e t ring t i n l g age i l i a ped is li h. li r ar ble. · l uage teachers in l e t c t t ental t t li ning t t age. y i l g s t ts ing f rei n l . ling l . t re i i e tific ic l ch. e l i t te ritt i lis s i ti t a tra lation of f reign r h tific fi l . e ts il li t t t inent ican ti t i d t i inence itt eif? f?U s. li r, t t t i l i lized i aci n t iques e ab olute - r t . e c ,·

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