What the Schools Teach and Might Teach - John Franklin Bobbitt

In the new so-called English course in the academic high schools required
foreign languages are omitted entirely. In the third and fourth years German or
Spanish is made elective. This gives rise to several questions. If the foreign
language is studied simply as preparation for the leisure occupation of reading its
literature—the only value of the course in the case of most who take it—why
should not French be elective also? By far the largest of the world's literatures,
outside of the English, is the French. The Spanish has but a small literature; and
while Germany has excelled in many things, belles-lettres is not one of them.
Another question relates to the placing of these electives. If one is to study a
foreign language at all, it is usually thought best to begin earlier than the third
year of the high school, so as to finish these simple matters that can be done by
children and gain time in the later years for the more complicated matters that
require mature judgment.