ABSTRACT
Benjamin Franklin’s recommendations distinguish three educational purposes. One, he concerns himself with the training of professionals for whom Latin is important. Two, he thinks about the utility of languages for merchants, and reveals what he saw to be the predominant trade and language patterns by emphasizing the importance of French, German, and Spanish. Third, Franklin moves away from a purely utilitarian understanding of language training when he imagines that nobody with "an ardent Desire to learn" should be prevented from acquiring a language. The College of William and Mary appointed the first American professor of a modern language, in 1780, at a time when Harvard first permitted the substitution of French for Hebrew. All candidates for admission were required to demonstrate knowledge of Greek and Latin, acquired in preparatory schools, but the Scientific Course substituted studies in French and Spanish, the history of English literature, the history of philosophy, and technical education for the study of classical languages and literature.
