but by other members of the staff. Secondly, the pupils in their early years in the school are more likely to grasp the fundamentals of the subjects, especially the new subjects with which they are dealing. They will not, as yet, have acquired sufficient English for this purpose, and it is unfair to them not to use their mother tongue. Some secondary schools in the Welsh areas have realised this, and members of the staff appointed to teach the lower forms are expected to have a knowledge of Welsh. As the pupils move up the school it will be possible for them to receive instruction through the medium of both English and Welsh with advantage to their knowledge of each language. Thirdly, there is the advantage to the Welsh language itself. So long as the language is largely confined to being a medium of expression in certain restricted fields of knowledge, like literature or religious instruction, it must be obvious that its range is limited. Rarely is Welsh used for teaching science or kindred subjects, and yet these are the subjects which are receiving the greatest attention today. We have unconsciously come to accept a situation where each language has been given its "sphere of influence"; Welsh is to remain the language of literature, of the Eisteddfod and of the pulpit or the chapel, while English becomes the natural language of business and science. This is an unfortunate delimitation of the functions of language. A language which cannot deal with every situation in its contemporary world is a language in retreat; a language, if it is to live, must be for ever expanding, adapting itself to convey new knowledge in new fields, coining new words, borrowing from other languages, strengthening its dialects which supply the literary language with its life blood, and making that same literary language a pliable instrument for conveying information and ideas. The Welsh language must, therefore, grow in this way, as indeed it has done in the past. And since the secondary schools and the institutions of higher education are centres of diffusion of knowledge and culture, they may largely determine the fate of the Welsh language. Difficulties of vocabulary, and the demands of examinations are frequently put forward as reasons for not using Welsh as a medium in modern subjects. The former is not so forbidding as it is frequently made out to be; the vocabulary of science is largely international, and where suitable words cannot be easily got, Welsh must do as English and other languages have done, make their own words or borrow them. The latter lies in the hands of the teachers to remedy. They must not meekly accept the dictates of examination requirements; the function of every examination system is to serve its community and its schools and not to dominate the life of both to such an extent as to debilitate them and hinder their vigorous individual development.
Almost from the beginning the secondary schools of Wales have been imitative. They have modelled themselves far too much in curriculum and in method, on the lines of the English grammar school and have taken little thought of their own language problems. It must not be forgotten that when they appeared there was no national
