BACKWATER TO THE FUTURE

Although the Bronx High School of Science offered French and Spanish courses, in the 1940s when I entered, it was really expected that we would learn German.  German was the language of cutting edge science.  Among the things that can be attributed to Hitler is not only the loss of a third of its former territory but to making German a backwater scientific language.  That may change fairly shortly if Germany goes through with its promise to allow free tuition for foreign students at German universities.  Who knows, if the present course, of making a college education affordable only for the very wealthy, continues here in the U.S., English will become the backwater language.