ABSTRACT
The educational explosion poses many problems. In particular, in the case of smaller nationalities secondary education for all and higher for many raises the question of language. Are local vernaculars to be retained as the means of instruction even when scientific subjects are taught at advanced level, or should a major world language be adopted for the purpose? Mastering a highly sophisticated foreign language is an additional burden for the learner. Yet the knowledge of such a language introduces him to the wealth of a great literature as well as to the most up-to-date scientific discoveries and subtleties of human thought. Economically there is the advantage of drawing on readily available stocks of textbooks; perhaps even to import fully trained teachers, at least on a limited scale. Emotionally, it may be unacceptable since it implies relegating one’s mother tongue to the rank of an inadequate dialect and robbing it of the opportunity to develop into a truly modern literary language.
