Whither Hispanic Instruction?

Abstract

Every year at this luncheon it has been customary for the president of the AATSP to deliver a formal address.* In looking over previous presidential messages, I have found that their content varies greatly; from a panegyric of the convention city to a discussion of the early explorations of the Spanish conquistadores in this hemisphere. To me it seems that perhaps the most needed comment at this time is an analysis of our most urgent problems. It is fitting and proper, as we stand on the threshold of a new year, that we review rapidly the present status of Hispanic instruction in the United States with a view toward isolating certain major problems of capital importance and placing them under the microscope of public scrutiny for a more accurate diagnosis of our present plight. I need hardly point out to you who teach Spanish and Portuguese that all is not well in our profession. Nor need I call to your attention the continuing antagonisms on the part of some our colleagues in other disciplines toward the study of foreign languages in general. I am firmly convinced that we have reached a time for momentous decisions. Either we set our own house in order, or others will do it for us, and this would be a shattering blow to our prestige. The other alternative is to do nothing but maintain the status quo, and if we do this, we shall soon find ourselves without students. I propose for a few moments to survey the main areas of instruction, elementary, secondary, and university, in order to bring into sharper focus the perplexing problems found there, and then to suggest ways and means of seeking a solution for them. I have found it necessary to call upon the advice and opinions of my colleagues in those levels of instruction with which I am unfamiliar. Several of my colleagues, then, are in a way the co-authors of this address, and to them I am deeply grateful. The study of Spanish in the elementary schools-as far as enrolment figures are concerned-is the brightest part of the over-all picture. In recent years the number of students enrolled and of classes opened has soared to new heights. Of course, the study of Spanish in elementary schools is not new. It was taught in the grade schools of Corpus Christi from 1899 to 1919 and appeared in the curriculum of schools in New Mexico and Florida from an early date. The great surge of present interest in foreign languages in the elementary schools dates from 1949, when several FL programs were established on a large scale. A few years later Dr. Earl J. McGrath, then U. S. Commissioner of Education, spurred renewed interest in the program by ardently advising the study of FLs in the elementary schools. Why all this interest in FL study in the grade schools? Sometime after World War II the American public became freshly aware that a study of FLs in the grades might be one way to promote peace and international understanding before old and deep-rooted prejudices have had a chance to develop further. Americans traveling abroad noted that European children often could speak one or more languages besides their own. Many GI's returning from foreign service were convinced that we were far behind the times in not instituting FL study on the lower educational level. Psychologists in recent * Presidential address read at the 37th Annual Meeting of the AATSP, Chicago, December 29-30, 1955.