632 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



similar statements. The statistics of the public examinations for which schools 

 enter their pupils bear out these statements. The reports of the Oxford and 

 Cambridge Schools Examination Board showed a steady diminution in the 

 percentage of candidates taking German, as the following figures show : — 



Higher Certificate. 



No. of Candidates No. taking German Percentage 



1896 2,121 . 323 15-25 



1909 2,621 257 9-8 



Lower Certificate. 



1896 891 193 21-6 



1939 1,347 241 18 



These figures give some idea of the number of boys and girls in schools where 

 the leaving age is eighteen who attain a fair standard in German. 



The figures for the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, which are 

 utilised mainly by the great town day-schools and schools where the leaving 

 age is sixteen or seventeen, are as follows : — 



Oxford Senior Local Examination. 



No. of Candidates No. taking German Percentage 



1895 1,414 351 24-2 



1907 6,370 360 5-6 



Cambridge Senior Local Examination. 



1895 ],952 506 251 



1906 3,736 324 8-6 



The great increase in the number of entries since 1895 is due largely to the 

 institution in England, since the Act of 1902, of a number of municipal and 

 county schools in which only one foreign language can be taught, and also 

 to the fact that these examinations are now largely used by elementary teachers 

 as qualifying examinations; but these considerations do not give a wholly 

 satisfactory explanation, least of all of the considerable diminution of candidates 

 taking German in the Cambridge Examination. 



Whether or not the amount of German done in schools is actually diminish- 

 ing, there is much evidence that only a quite insignificant proportion of scholars 

 in secondary schools attain a satisfactory standard in the language. In July 

 1910 there entered from the eleven provincial towns in England with more 

 than 200,000 inhabitants 1,701 candidates for the Oxford Senior Local Examina- 

 tion. Of these 742 obtained certificates in French, and only 38 in German. 

 That is to say, only one candidate in forty-five gave evidence of an adequate 

 knowledge of German. If the figures for the Cambridge Local and other 

 examinations were added, the proportion would probably not be altered. The 

 figures for Matriculation point in the same direction. At the Joint Matriculation 

 Examination of the Northern Universities in 1907, about nine per cent, of the 

 candidates offered German. The proportion at London is about the same. 



The evidence for a low standard of attainment in German therefore seems 

 pretty clear. The main reasons for this probably are the late stage at which 

 German is begun and the under-estimating of its difficulty. French is almost 

 invariably the first language begun in schools; German is usually learnt for 

 only two or three years. For the successful teaching of a language, either a 

 few hours for several years or a considerable number of hours for a few years 

 are required. German gets neither. In the schools of the West Biding 

 German is taught only in the upper classes and gets only three hours a week. 

 The difficulty of German is under-estimated, because well-educated people who 

 have had a linguistic training find it tolerably easy to learn to read it. But 

 the acquirement of a command of it for speech and writing by boys and girls 

 is quite another thing. 



It is sound doctrine that only one foreign language should be begun at a 

 time, and there is no reason for wishing to oust French from its position in the 



