Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
> "Don Phillipson" <d.phillipsonSPAMBLOCK@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>
>
>>From mediaeval times until 1970 or 1980, it was generally accepted
>>that every scholar must have at least a good reading knowledge of
>>two or more other languages than his mother-tongue. High school
>>graduation usually required proof by examination of competence in at
>>least one such language
>
>
> I realize that you're writing from an officially bilingual country,
> but has this ever (at least in the 20th century) really been the case
> elsewhere, at least in the sense of "if you don't pass this test you
> don't graduate"? I certainly don't remember my parents talking about
> any such requirement.
>
As it happens, on Wednesday evening I was at a reception in New York for
alumni of the University of Birmingham. One of the guests of honour was
Paul Nurse, who was a student at the same time that I was (although I
never met him then). He mentioned the matriculation requirements of the
time, which included a pass at O-Level in a foreign language. He failed
the exam six times, but the head of the department to which he'd applied
went to the University Senate, and got a special dispensation for him to
matriculate without that requirement, so long as he took language
cl***** in the French department during his first year as an
undergraduate.
Since there was no "graduation" from secondary schools in the UK,
matriculation would be the nearest equivalent of a "high school
graduation requirement".
Fran
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