Engels in de Basisschool

Since the introduction of the "Mammoth", the law that has reorganized our secondary school system, every elementary school pupil gets some forro of higher education. On the one hand this has in a certain sense decreased the importance of the elementary school, which used to be all the formal education the majority of Dutchman received, but on the other hand the elementary school has gained in importance as nowadays it has to prepare students for an educational system, which before long will require pupils to spend nine to ten years at school. In spite of differences of openion as to what consequences this change might have, thereis aggerment on a certain number of points, among which the position thai one has to determine for each of the different school subjects, what subject or parts of subjects belong in the elementary school programme and which ones in secondary education. Among the new subjects that for different reasons stand a good chance of being introduced in the "new style" elementary school is the teaching of a first foreign language. The reason for this is that it is felt that in the near future every Dutchman will need communicative knowledge of at least one foreign language. As attaining this goal requires time, it has been proposed to distribute the time needed for learning a foreign language over elementary and secondary schools. The bill that will be introduced to Parlement later this year will contain a paragraph on English in the elementary school. This paper gives some arguments for and against the introduction of English in the elementary school.