Gladys L. Borchers

German speech education

Following is a report of German Speech Education based on two visits to Europe, one from January to June 1939 and one from August 1954 to September 1955. It is the hope that these observations may add to what others have found and help to encourage an exchange of philosophies and methods.

Chapter 19: Basic Issues in Integrating Speech With Other Subjects

ing, in transportation, in communication, and in teaching. In the secondary school for example, we recognize that while the number of hours each student spends in the classroom is approximately the same as it was twenty-five years ago, the life needs of the student are more complex, and knowledge has increased many fold. The boy or girl of today has more difhcult problems to solve, more facts to learn, and a more complicated society to which to adjust. If he is to be successful, he must work faster and more ef~ciently. &dquo;

Chapter 1: What Speech Can Contribute to High School Education

A proper speech program in high school is designed to make all boys and ~A girls more effective when they talk. Its primary purpose, therefore, is not to turn out actors and actresses, platform readers, or public speakers; it is rather to help high-school students to participate in social and business conversation, to present skillfully their qualifications when applying for jobs, to speak effectively in buying and selling, to develop skill in reading for the information and pleasure of themselves and others, and to discuss intelligently vital community issues. This functional emphasis has always been the motivating factor in worthwhile speech training. Thousands of years before there was any English language, speech was considered an important educational discipline in the cultural centers of the world. In the 12th Egyptian dynasty (3000 B. C.)