memoirs that because of Katharevousa "there were humorous scenes in a comedy and it happened that no one laughed." 1903–22 Demoticism in education and reform Fotiadis and The Language Question ... In 1902 Fotis Fotiadis, personal physician to the Ottoman Sultan (and therefore secure enough to risk controversy) had published The Language Question and our Educational Renaissance, the first book to argue for educational reform based on demotic. Claiming that it was easier for a Greek child to learn a foreign language than Katharevousa, he called for demotic to be established as the official language of the Greek state, education, and law. Writing as a doctor and a father, he presented a child's view of contemporary Greek education: from the start, the pupils are told that they have been using the 'wrong' language, and are made to spend much of their time simply learning new 'correct' Katharevousa words and expressions. As a result, " ... their minds become confused and disordered, and they are unable to do anything in a natural manner, instead becoming self-conscious and hesitant, not only in their linguistic expression but in everything else they do". He argued for more than simply switching to demotic: he believed that self-development should be the priority in education, and that national self-awareness would follow. To encourage this, he urged that "national poetry" and "popular music" (meaning rural demotic folk poetry and folk music), which reveal the "soul of the people", should become an essential part of the curriculum. He also emphasized the role of women in language reform. He declared that children as language-learners are "an inexhaustible treasure for the nation", and that women, as their mothers, are "... the keyholders of the language. It is they that we must win over in every way ..." The National Language Society Fotiadis was not alone. In 1904 the National Language Society was founded to promote demotic in education and public life generally, the first organized group to do so. At the inaugural meeting the poet Kostis Palamas memorably contrasted the demotic and Katharevousa versions of the simple sentence "My father died". While the demotic "Πέθανε ὁ πατέρας μου" takes root in one's heart, in one's very being, he argued, the Katharevousa version "Απέθανεν ὁ ἐμὸς πατήρ" is like a piece of clothing that can be discarded. The demotic "has grown organically as the green branch of our national linguistic tree", while