We can be very sure, the world and human nature being what it is, that there will be no such reaction against foreign languages as there was during and after World War I. There are already signs that the number of students has dropped to the point where it will remain stationary, or from which it will perhaps rise slightly, during the next years. The study of Slavic and East European subjects has followed a very definite pattern in the last ten years with its shifts of emphasis reflecting the changes that have taken place in that part of the globe. It has followed political and economic relationships of the United States and we can be confident that it will continue to do so. Thus, since the beginning of World War I, the picture of Slavic and East European studies in the United States has changed markedly. The prospects today are far brighter than they ever have been. The foundations have been laid and it only remains to build a superstructure to fit into American life and at the same time present a consistent and coherent picture of what that American life, and Slavic studies, really need. The first period of test is over. Now is the time to present Slavic scholarship to the American public and the scholarly world in such a form that it can be assimilated and incorporated in the intellectual life of the nation, and at the same time take account of the possibilities offered by the large section of the population with Slavic traditions. CHAPTER 8 THE FUTURE TASKS OF SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES It is obviously impossible, under present conditions in America, even to dream of offering any outline for a definite organization of studies of that large area east of Scandinavia, Germany and Italy. We are dealing with several linguistic and cultural entities which historically have been subjected to widely differing influences. Especially in the field of history and of culture in general, the old notion that a boundary could be drawn between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, or between the Christian and the Islamic Worlds, is definitely antiquated. It was non-existent during the earlier periods of history although it was partially valid for a few centuries. Even at the height of religious separation, the Slavic World was itself divided, the Western Slavs and some Southern Slavs on one side and the Eastern and most Southern Slavs on the other. Today, with the general movements that are sweeping both Europe and Asia, these lines are obliterated. We are forced, thus, to recognize a far more complicated situation than seemed possible even a few decades ago when the early students of Slavic blindly, though sincerely, followed either the German or the Russian cultural views of the area.