Foreign Notes

THE "ENEMY LANGUAGE"-As in America, the place of the enemy language occupies a prominent place in educational discussions in Europe. A committee of the English Modern Language Association recently adopted the following memorandum:

It is not possible to give any exact forecast of the commercial relations of England and Germany after the war, but whatever form they may assume there is no doubt that a knowledge of German and German conditions will be required for commercial purposes. In the future it will be even more necessary than in the past that there shall be in responsible quarters people possessing an adequate knowledge of German and all that the study of German in the widest sense should imply. . . . The study of German has inevitably suffered during the war, but we are of opinion that to allow any further diminution to take place, or even to accept the present reduced scale as permanent, would be to the national disadvantage.

Similar convictions prevail in some quarters of Germany, apparently. Regarding the teaching of English in German schools the Mannheim Gazette asserts:

The modern languages occupy a prominent position in our real schools and higher real schools (Oberrealschulen). No narrow minds will demand their curtailment because of our unpleasant experience with the French and the English. On the contrary, the knowledge of these languages is absolutely necessary to us, especially that of English. Ignorance of a foreign language or of a foreign nation is not an element of strength, but of weakness. Besides Germany has no intention of isolating herself from the rest of the world when the war is over. She does not want to wage war after war. She strives more than ever to penetrate into the world . . . The modern languages ought to be given more, not less, time than heretofore.

WAR SAVINGS IN ENGLISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.-On May 5, 1916, the English Board of Education, at the request of the National War Savings Committee, issued a circular asking for the assistance of local education authorities in making known through the public elementary schools the facilities for saving afforded by the issues of war saving certificates. With the cooperation of the authorities and teachers, special lessons were given on the subject and copies of a leaflet explaining the purpose of the war savings associations

were widely distributed to parents through the children. The board has also placed at the disposal of the committee some of their inspecting staff for organizing and secretarial work in conection with the local war savings committees which have been formed. Notable assistance has already been given to the movement in various areas by the schools. A large number of war savings associations have been formed in direct connection with the schools. Members and officials of local education authorities, teachers and scholars have thrown themselves into the campaign with enthusiasm. Many teachers are acting as secretaries and organizers to the associations; the scholars have distributed pamphlets and notices of meetings and collected the savings of distant members.

THE STUDY OF RUSSIAN.-Frequent reference has been made in these notes to revival of interest in the study of Russian. Over 55 per cent of the universities and colleges of England have established courses in Russian. In Scotland four higher institutions and 18 continuation centers have courses in Russian attended by 560 students.

COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN POLAND.- Almost the first use made by the Poles of their temporary freedom was to introduce compulsory school attendance. During 1915-16 the number of schools increased by 47 per cent. In Warsaw alone during that year 400 new elementaray schools and 47 industrial continuation schools were established.

ATTENDANCE IN GERMAN UNIVERSITIES.-There were 63,915 students registered in the German universities during the summer of 1917, but of this number 46,658 were in war service. Of the 17,257 in actual attendance, 6,013 were women, some 1300 were foreigners, and most of the remaining were disabled by the war. Comparison of 1913 with 1917 figures shows the extent to which the German universities have sent their men to the army. Berlin had a scant three thousand as compared with the more than 8,000 of 1913; Bonn had 1360, as against 4460; Freiburg had 330 left out of 3,163; Göttingen 762 out of 2,853; Halle 575 of 2,765; and Heidelberg 852 out of 2,617.

CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES AND THE WAR.-Conference between 'American and Canadian educators since the war began have tended

to put at the disposal of American educators much that is valuable. It appears from the report of the Canadians that their universities suffered great loss of numbers from the undergraduates and instructors at the beginning of the war, such men being among the first to respond to their country's call for volunteers. No effort was made to accord special treatment to university men nor to keep the institutions themselves together. The military authorities realized that it would be advantageous to offer the undergraduates a chance for military training at the universities. Accordingly, it was arranged that officers' training corps should be established in the universities, the training to constitute a part of the regular university work. The instruction is given by members of the teaching force of the university, and these units are part, not of the overseas forces of the Dominion, but of the militia. Full equipment, with excellent service rifles, is provided by the Central Dominion Government for all university units. Much target practice is afforded the undergraduates, and skill in markmanship is in many cases rapidly attained.

Not only has the shortage of officers made it impossible for regular army officers to be provided for the giving of military instruction in the universities, but it has been found in general that the regular university teachers prove more effective instructors for university men than the army officers.

Contribution of undergraduates to the army on the part of the universities and colleges has amounted in some instances to as much as 70 per cent of the entire enrollment of men. One reason why this contribution has been so great is found in the fact that the university men have proved splendidly qualified for making officers.

The Canadians report that it has not been found necessary to modify university calendars in most cases. Medical schools have recently introduced a summer session for the final year in order that graduation might be hastened. Medical students of the two final years who have enlisted as combatants have been sent back by the military authorities to complete their course. The agricultural schools of the Dominion regularly are in session only from November 1 to May 1. Young men are therefore free for work on the farms, and influence has been exerted of late to persuade the agricultural students to engage in farm work, rather than to enlist in the army, since many millions of acres of good prairie land in Canada are still uncultivated for lack of laborers.

Appreciating that the stream of graduate students formerly flowing from Canada to German universities might continue for some years to be diverted to English and French institutions, the universities of Canada have requested that a three years' doctorate course be regularly offered in the universities of these two countries, and that scholarships be available there to Canadian students. This request has

been favorably received, and the desired arrangements have already been made at some of these institutions.

FOREIGN EDUCATION IN RECENT GOVERNMENT BULLETINS.-A half dozen recent bulletins of the Bureau of Education concern themselves with foreign education. Bulletin 1916 No. 49 is a detailed report of medical inspection work in Great Britain; 1917 No. 11 is "Higher Technical Education in foreign countries" (by the late Anna Tolman Smith in collaboration with W. S. Jesien); 1917 No. 36 outlines the demand for vocational education in warring countries; 1917 No. 25 analyzes provision for military training of youths of school age in European nations*; 1917 Nos. 15 and 16 are Dr. MacLean's studies in higher education in Ireland and Wales, and England and Scotland, respectively, based on first hand investigations during the past three years.

The 1917 Annual report of the Commissioner of Education does not contain the usual elaborate statement of education in foreign countries. There is, instead, a brief review, by nations, of the effect of the war on education in the chief European nations. W. C. R.

*Reviewed in EDUCATION for December.

Book Notices

TENDENCIES IN MODERN AMERICAN POETRY. By Amy Lowell. The Macmillan Company. Price $2.50.

This is a notable book by a notable representative of the modern style of poetic emotion and expression. The writer of this review confesses at the outset that he has been puzzled, fascinated, alternately distressed and inspired by the examples of the modern poetry which have chanced to cross his vision. He believes that he possesses an "open mind" and is reasonably free from predispositions. Yet at first the violations of precedent, the casting off of all forms, and the dragging out of all sorts of objects of thought into the light of day and setting them up as proper objects of poetic contemplation, have produced intellectual and emotional jolts that have been at times painful. Gradually, however, he is getting the new point of view. Long ago, seeking a definition of the real essence of poetry this truth was grasped, viz., that poetry is the reflection, in the soul of man, of the divine order of the universe. This definition seems to harmonize with the tendency of the modern forms of verse to take up the veriest details of what is, and find in them stimuli of emotion. The rags of a beggar are a part of the universe as we know it and these rags may provoke profound thought and lead us to feelings that connect up with the very holy of holies of human experience. The poet who can stir our emotions in this way with a small detail of the universe as it is, is a true poet. He feels everything, everywhere, and makes us conscious of the oneness of all things, human and divine. He finds beauty and harmony where the soul with narrower range of vision sees only ugliness and disorder. "Art, true art," says the author of the volume under consideration, is the desire of man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. Great emotion always tends to become rhythmic, and out of that tendency the forms of art have been evolved. Art becomes artificial only when the forms take precedence over the emotion." Miss Lowell goes on to show that American men and women have come to feel the pulsations of American life as something unique and individual; "the great unoccupied spaces, the constant warring and overcoming of nature, the fluid state of the social fabric-all made a different speech necessary, if they were really to express the thoughts that were in them."

Miss Lowell's book is an attempt to disclose a great new, artistic movement. "We shall see these poets," she says, (of the six representative American poets whom she uses as exemplars) "revolting against stilted phrases and sentimentality; we shall see them endeavoring to express themselves, and the new race which America is producing;