banning german flipping random books linguistics library fell something would interesting discussion nt following thread might mentioned found reference us supreme court reports 1922 october term meyer vs nebraska p 392 403 steinberg 1993 introduction psycholinguistics longman quote passage full well written beginning chapter 8 may 1920 hamilton county nebraska rural area united states teacher mr robert meyer arrested violating state law mayer teaching bible stories german zion parochial school 10 yearold boy nebraska law forbade teaching second language children age 13 nebraska 21 states well prohibited teaching foreign languages except ead languages latin greek according nebraska 1919 siman act person shall teach subject person language english language languages english may taught pupil shall passed eighth grade person violates provisions act shall deemed guilty misdemeanor upon conviction shall subject fine less twentyfive dollars 25 one hundred dollars 100 confined county jail period exceeding thirty days offense found guilty meyer could fined even sent jail states passed laws essentially german language target america finished war germany hatred germany things german particularly military values ideals political institutions law reflected widespread belief german language embodiment evil german culture teach language young americans would immoral corrupting meyer decided appeal case supreme court state nebraska ironically lawyers state nebraska took essentially position presented german language german philosopher wilhelm von humboldt 1836 language nature represents spirit national character people true teaching grammar structure vocabulary german language meyer could indeed harming american children making german militarists right plains nebraska nebraska supreme court denied meyer appeal meyer submit took case highest court country united states supreme court case court overturned conviction declared unconstitutional laws united states forbade teaching foreign language 1922 ruling court stated one basis decision mere knowledge german language reasonably regarded harmful see story seemingly purely theoretical issue practical consequences everyday life making legal decision matter court also made psycholinguistic decision relationship language thought culture court correct question shall consider