The thing said may look the same on a
printed page, but it is not the same when
spoken. And it is the spoken sentence
which is the original and the usual mode
of communication.
The widespread poverty of expression in
English, which is thus a matter of "how,"
and to which we are awakening, must be
corrected chiefly, at least at first, by the
common schools. The home is the ideal
place for it, but the average home of the
United States is no longer a possible place
for it. The child of foreign parents, the
child of parents little educated and bred in
limited circumstances, the child of powerful
provincial influences, must all depend
on the school for standards of English.
And it is the elementary school which
must meet the need, if it is to be met at all.
For the conception of English expression
which I am talking of can find no mode of
instruction adequate to its meaning, save
in constant appeal to the ear, at an age so
early that unconscious habit is formed. No
rules, no analytical instruction in later
development, can accomplish what is needed.
Hearing and speaking; imitating, unwittingly
and wittingly, a good model; it is to
this method we must look for redemption
from present conditions.
I believe we are on the eve of a real
revolution in English teaching,--only it is a
revolution which will not break the peace.
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