this way the student is able to add to his "major" such
subjects as Old French (Chicago), Introduction to Romance Philology
(Columbia), Practical Phonetics (Chicago), a Teachers' Course
(Wisconsin), etc. Personally I am of the opinion that the day has
passed when any of our graduates who has not at least a Master's
degree in Romance should be recommended to a teaching position. But
evidently any such hard and fast rule is bound to be unfair,
especially since a large percentage of our students is compelled to
earn a living immediately upon graduation. Thus here again--as in the
elementary courses as now given in the colleges--we are confronted
with a makeshift which only time and continued effort can correct. In
the meantime the value of such professional courses depends to a very
marked degree upon the success with which they can be carried out
where they are counted toward a higher degree (M.A. or Ph.D.) the
difficulty is not so great, since their introductory nature is
self-evident; but where they conclude, so to speak, the student's
formal training the difficulty of making them "fit in" is often sadly
apparent. At any rate, in this borderland between cultural and
professional studies, where the college is merging with the university
or professional school, the necessity for the able teacher is a
paramount issue. If the transition is to be successful, the obligation
rests upon the teacher so to develop his subject that the
specializing will not drown out the general interest but will inform
it with those values which only the specialist can impart.

=Final contributions of Romance Languages to the American college student=

And now as to our final consideration: What particular advantages have
the Romance tongues to offer as a college subject? An obvious
advantage is: an understanding of foreign peoples. The Romance
languages are modern. They are spoken today over a large part of the
habitable globe. We stand in direct relations with those who speak
them and write them. Above all, a large share of the world's best
thought is being expressed in them. The point requires no arguing,
that translations cannot take the place of originals: _traduttore
traditore_, says an excellent Italian proverb. If we are really to
know what other nations think,--whether we accept or reject their
thought makes little or no difference here,--we can do so only by
knowing their language. And the better we know it, the greater our
insight wi