A common assumption about the humanities used to be that they were always the same: both their subject matter and the ways of studying them were invariable. “The proper study of mankind is man” was an evident enough truth, and when one got down to the study, one found oneself at best working over again “what oft was thought but ne'er so well express'd.”

It has been said with some justice that during the past one hundred years committees have functioned as the task forces of American educational reform. It might also have been added that the preliminary scouting or reconnaissance has been accomplished through the device of the conference. It is quite likely, therefore, that a comparison of the aims, organization, and outlook of the Basic Issues Conference of 1958 and the Dartmouth Seminar of 1966 will serve to place in some kind of perspective the significant trends in English teaching which are taking place in the country today and which may continue to be influential for some time to come.

My topic for this afternoon has been announced as “The Ends, Means, and Accomplishments of the NDEA Modern Foreign Language Institutes.” That is indeed the topic I shall speak on, but before I come directly to it, I should like to deliver a message. The message I want to deliver is a simple one, and it is brief. It consists of only three sentences.