Spanish, French, and German: An Edwardian Pattern for a Postmodern WorldAuthor(s): Elvira GarciaSource: Profession, (1999), pp. 137-141Published by: Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25595679 .

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Spanish, French, and German:

An Edwardian Pattern for a Postmodern World

ELVIRA GARCIA

As enrollments in Spanish classes increase and those in French and Ger

man decline, our predictable response has been to seek ways to protect our

colleagues and preserve their programs. Given that we value both, the re

sponse is not indefensible. But the needs of the nation and the unlikelihood

of additional resources for foreign language study argue that we should

seek alternatives to Spanish, French, and German as the standard pattern in most United States schools. Disconcerting though it might be, we may need to shift money and people from French and German to other major

languages of the world: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Por

tuguese, and Russian, for example.

Despite recent changes in the world's economies and trade patterns, most secondary and postsecondary foreign language programs in the

United States still reflect the Edwardian view that the country's academic

and pragmatic interests are primarily Eurocentric and that French and

German are therefore both necessary and sufficient. This pattern is rein

forced by a plethora of available instructors and established programs in

French and German accompanied by a dearth in the less commonly taught

major languages. Responsible leadership in the study of foreign languages

requires exploration of alternative views, regardless of the dislocations that

might ensue.

The author is Professor and Chair of Foreign Languages at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. A version of this article appeared in the Fall 1998 issue of the ADFL Bulletin.

137 Profession 1999

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138 II SPANISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN

Any paradigm shift involves risk and merits careful planning. Among other things, a major change in United States practices here would require adequate consideration for the current instructors and students in French and German programs; adequate local, regional, and national coordina

tion; elaborate debate and communication; and extensive development of instructors and materials. To decline such a challenge, however, would be to continue the highly arguable position that the study of Spanish, French, and German alone constitutes an adequate response to most of the foreign language needs of the country and its students.

Consider, for example, the hypothetical but common case of two medium sized public universities in the same state, each of which offers undergraduate

majors in Spanish, French, and German but none in any other language. The

Spanish programs are flourishing, the French programs are struggling, and the German programs are withering. When a German or French program instructor resigns, retires, or dies, the usual practice is to seek a replacement in the same language, assuming that the line can even be kept for foreign lan

guages and that it isn't immediately gobbled up by the Spanish program. A better approach, however, would be to establish an agreement between the two institutions so that only one would continue to offer a major in the tradi tional language while the other would consolidate resources to establish a de

gree program in one of the less commonly taught languages. The budget lines that become available through resignation, retirement, or death could be transferred to the institution establishing the new major. Remaining fac

ulty members in French or German could either continue to offer service courses or, when a position became available, transfer to the school that was to continue a major in French or German. Younger faculty members might be supported in a program to add a language to their repertoire, with or with out a transfer of institution as appropriate. A principal goal would be for

all current faculty members to understand that a place would still be available

for them as language professors in the state system. A similar scenario should be less difficult to manage in an urban second

ary school system organized by programs rather than majors. There is little reason for every high school in a city to offer Spanish, French, and German.

Ultimately, one could argue better for Spanish, French, and Hindi at one

school; Spanish, German, and Arabic at a second; Russian and German at a

third; and so on. One might toy with a scheme for busing students or teach ers to offer students maximized choices, but in most cases practicality would

argue against that. A choice among Portuguese, Chinese, and French in

one's high school is not inherently more arbitrary than the current choice

among Spanish, French, and German where they are all available; between

Spanish and French in less fortunate schools; and just Spanish in many cases.

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ELVIRA GARCIA ||| 139

The changeover in secondary schools could be accomplished in much

the same way as in the universities. So long as faculty members were as

sured of a place in the system, their resistance to change should be of a

manageable degree, especially if they were to view it as the best alternative to eventual unemployment. Further, a movement to reallocate resources

would be timely in view of the imminent retirement of the especially large cohort of instructors recruited to accommodate the baby boom. Other as

pects of such a changeover deserve consideration and will be addressed

here, but looking at those matters is worthwhile only if one accepts as in

teresting the basic premise that the paradigm should indeed be modified?

that the nation and the profession would be better served by a broader

range of languages being taught in most schools, not just in a few.

We usually justify the study of foreign languages in three major ways: as

a contribution to the general education of our students, as development of true and useful competence in other languages, and as the development of

substantial access to the literature and other manifestations of foreign cul tures. The first would not seem to call for any particular language; one could

develop an appreciation for cultural differences, explore the possibility of

really wanting to learn another language, and experience different points of

view by studying Chinese as well as one could by studying French. Further, the general education of students in the United States would only be en

hanced by familiarity with a wider diversity of languages and the cultures and histories that accompany them. Appropriate vehicles for general edu

cation need not be restricted to Spanish, French, and German, and support for foreign language programs would be strengthened by a perception of

modernizing change and progress under way. Second, the nation's need for competent speakers of other languages is

diverse and inadequately served. United States businesses, institutions, and individuals regularly need linguistic capabilities that are not available, and

while the largest demand is generally for Spanish, with a certain demand for French and German skills, there is also a substantial and growing need for, and opportunities in, each of the other major languages. Americans realize

this, and pressure for programs in the other languages is growing, but the

response of the language teaching profession has been slow. A concerted effort to move resources, develop teachers and programs, and produce ma

terials would demonstrate to the nation that badly needed change was

under way and deserved both continued and augmented support. A rear

guard action simply to defend faltering programs in French and German, however, would have the opposite effect.

Third, the increased global awareness of Americans has rendered the lit erature and other manifestations of the world's major languages and cultures

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140 III SPANISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN

more interesting than before. Students aware of the economic and techno

logical significance of the Pacific Rim countries often have a strong motiva

tion to understand Japanese and Chinese culture in depth. Companies that

view the former Soviet Union as a potential economic powerhouse under

stand that they will need employees with elaborate knowledge of the many centuries of Russian development. And so on. With the exception of large, well-financed university programs and the occasional secondary school pro

gram, it is foreign language departments that are missing the boat here and

just don't get it?not the general public. The customers are out there, but we don't have the programs, instructors, and materials ready to serve their

needs. If we did, many would come.

Moving significant resources to new language programs would require local, regional, and national coordination and cooperation of a high order.

The MLA and the ADFL are obvious forums for the early stages of develop ment, but once formulated, proposals for change would need to be taken up

by educational systems at many levels. Individual postsecondary institutions

could not generally manage the change by themselves unless they were large or rich, and programs at all levels would need to get ready to employ univer

sity graduates in the newly available languages. The production of teachers

of French and German would need to be reduced in an orderly fashion, re

sponding to changes in secondary and postsecondary program needs rather

than anticipating those changes precipitously. The production of majors in

die newly available languages would have to be carefully monitored, poten tial students and their families would have to be well informed about the im

provements in available training, and materials would have to be developed in time to support program expansions. Most important, the people who

have dedicated their professional lives to the study and teaching of French

and German would, for the most part, need to be convinced that their ca

reers were not in jeopardy from these changes, however much the teaching of their languages in the future might, at least in relative terms, decline.

Such a project of coordinated change would be daunting, but the most

likely alternative seems worse?a nation where little else but Spanish pro

grams flourish because that is the one available language that seems to make

sense to most students and because the leadership in foreign language

study could think of no better approach than just letting students vote with

their feet. Certainly such a sweeping change would require the support of

our colleagues in Spanish; the temptation to play the "ten-thousand-pound

gorilla" would have to be resisted. And reallocations of open French and

German budget lines would have to be seen as a limited step to create a

healthier general situation rather than as open season on all French and

German programs.

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ELVIRA GARCIA ||| 141

The list of challenges is not short. Some tenured professors of French

and German who prefer to teach literature might find themselves left be

hind in a service course department, at least for a while. Junior faculty members asked to expand their language repertoires would need both time

and financial support. Students whose major was discontinued would re

quire careful advising and, in some cases, special accommodations. Non

Indo-European languages usually take longer to learn, so timetables would

have to be adjusted accordingly. And perhaps most challenging of all,

major doctoral institutions would have to scale back their production of

French and German PhDs while shifting resources to support other lan

guages?a change the first part of which seems inevitable in any event.

Certainly, the changes that would be needed at the graduate school level

would be the most expensive and difficult.

The situation reminds me of a problem the hospitals in Omaha faced about fifteen years ago. Wanting to be everything to everyone, they were

all going broke as the required equipment and personnel costs skyrocketed while managed care reduced the hospitals' revenue. Finally they devised a

plan wrhereby each institution would focus on just a few expensive areas

trauma center, lung transplants, stem-cell replacement, and so on?and the

hospitals have prospered. I'm also reminded of the American automobile

manufacturers in recent decades, at least two of which sank to the edge of

bankruptcy because they continued to build the cars they were used to but which many of their customers didn't want and didn't have to accept; the manufacturers' unwillingness and inability to change almost destroyed them, and the jury may still be out.

We have a complex problem in foreign languages that requires diverse and innovative solutions. Merely to circle the wagons around French and German while indulging the Spanish gorilla's feeding frenzy would be irre

sponsible and self-defeating. One area that deserves consideration is the

significant broadening, rather than narrowing, of the range of major world

languages offered in the country's secondary and postsecondary schools.

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