When my buddy, Donald, and I backpacked around the continent after college, there was a running joke about how the kids in each country spoke their national language. “Isn’t it great how every kid in France speaks a foreign language?” We were so witty. But the reality was that most people we met spoke English as well as their native tongue.
But what about us? Back then, everybody took a foreign language in school. Our choices were generally French, German or Spanish, as Latin had fallen out of fashion. Few became even remotely conversant, but at least we had some exposure. No more.
In January, the Modern Language Association made an astonishing announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education: From 2013 to 2016, colleges across the United States cut 651 foreign language programs. French was the hardest hit, losing 129 programs, followed by Spanish with 118, German with 86 and Italian with 56. Once these programs close, they are very hard to reopen.
As Bénédicte de Montlaur, the cultural attaché to the French Embassy, correctly notes, as the globe becomes increasingly flat, our lingual jingoism heads in the opposite direction.
The decline in language education could have devastating effects for generations to come. With fewer options for learning a foreign language in school, a sharp decrease in interest is likely to follow. According to the Modern Language Association, enrollment in college-level foreign-language courses dropped 9.2 percent from 2013 to 2016.
On the one hand, the irony here is that the pursuit of learning a foreign language flies in the face of the pathetic reality that American students are barely learning English, conflicted with the cries that vernaculars are some sort of legitimate equivalent. On the other, we’re not doing a good job of teaching math, history or literature either.
Outside of cultural appreciation, meaning what white students can’t do without offending others, the requirement that students gain a knowledge of classical humanities has been taken off the table. A required course in American Political Theory neglects to mention anyone involved in American Political Theory, like Jefferson, Madison, Locke or Rousseau, but does include Kimberlé Crenshaw, whose contribution was to coin the term “intersectionality.” If that’s a foreign language, then students are required to learn it well.
But even if we were to require students to learn a “foreign” language, as if any language could be so offensively characterized since there will surely be some American who speaks it, and it’s therefore every bit as American as, say, standard English, what language would be taught? When I was in school, I took Spanish, under the theory that it would be the most useful of the three to learn. German was thought to be the best choice for people who planned a career in medicine, while French was, well, French.
Later, Japanese began gaining traction, as their economy was going gangbusters and it appeared that they would own the world. “Made in Japan” went from being a joke to being the car everyone was driving when OPEC forced us into fuel lines. Today, would it be Mandarin or Russian? Maybe Farsi or Arabic? What would be the lingua franca du jour?
And yet, knowing a foreign language is becoming ever more essential. The freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is Spanish-English bilingual, recently tweeted, “Bilingualism is a huge advantage in the economy and the world.” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who at age 29 is already one of the best-known members of the Democratic Party, is a case in point.
AOC twits many things, most with an appeal to people who are fluent in intersectionality, but noting her view is telling as to whom this plea to maintain foreign language education is directed. It’s not us Olds who question whether foreign language should be part of the basic curriculum, but those of AOC’s tender years, whose children go to school, day after day, and come home with little to show for it, other than knowing to never wear hoop earings if they don’t want to be beaten by fellow students, then expelled by their principal for violation of the cultural appropriation rules.
As is typical with this cohort, there is a passionate group of protesters who fight the machine and demand that foreign languages be returned to their darlings’ curriculum. And as is also typical, it’s with some special finesse as well.
Nationwide, parents and teachers have been leading grass-roots initiatives to provide foreign-language learning in public schools, and some universities have instituted innovative language programs. From pre-K to graduate studies, there is a move toward holistic language education, based on the notion that learning a language should be grounded in the real, everyday use of that language.
Because novel theories of education are always beneficial, from new math to ebonics, immersion is the method proponents would have schools pursue. That way, students would be able to avoid learning anything as they can’t speak or understand that language they are using while attempting to avoid reading books by dead European white men.
Fortunately, France is here to help us out of this mess.
As cultural counselor of the French Embassy, I have spearheaded the creation and development of the French Dual Language Fund, inaugurated by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, which supports bilingual programs in public schools in the United States. The process of adding such programs varies enormously from one state to another, but the commitment of school districts is crucial for their development.
The point that Americans should learn a foreign language seems more critical today than ever. But French? It’s enormously useful for ordering dinner, and if you happen to fly commercial aircraft, but it’s the same old Eurocentric stuff that’s perpetuated everything the woke despise about America. Colleges won’t require their students to read Proust or Balzac, but they should learn their language?
Even if we came to our senses and regained an appreciation of foreign language, where would we be able to slip it into the curriculum? Having added necessary courses in whiteness and critical race theory, and recognizing that there are only so many hours in the school day despite time being merely a social construct, something has to give. Perhaps it’s time to excess biology, thus opening up a slot, since its utility, I hear, is suspect?
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So… what are the job opportunities in Quebec these days?
Coke dealer.
In Quebec, Pepsi has the greater market share.
“Ici, c’est pepsi” is the slogan.
I know . . . focus!
Your search did not match any documents. Showing results for “job opportunities in Ontario”.
“But French?”
French is hugely important, and you have to truly internalize it, down to the mannerisms and unspoken expressions. You need to be able, in an instant, to convey to the sneering sommelier your disdain for him, so that you can take control of the situation.
Some of us can do that with the mere tilt of an eyebrow. Granted, it’s an art.
SHG,
Please forgive this reminiscence. It relates to your post.
My dear departed first wife was a French teacher. When we married and I immediately started law school we needed a place where she could teach French in high school so we had something to eat during the three years that would follow.
She found a job in Wilber, Nebraska. It wasn’t ideal for me since it was about 50 plus miles from the law school. But there were no other jobs, so to Wilber (pop. 1,800), we moved.
Wilber is the Czech capital of Nebraska. Every year the small town held a festival that was attended by thousands. Lots and lots of beer gardens and that wonderful pastry called a kolache. The festival lives on.
My wife said it wasn’t easy to teach French to a good number of her wonderful kids. In English, many pronounced the word “three” like “tree” since the Czech language was buried deep into the culture and life of so many families that a Czech accent crept into their otherwise fluent English. Indeed, many of the kids could speak the Czech language without trouble. So imagine teaching French to someone who has a dual accent baked into their skull. Nonetheless, she loved the kids and they loved her. That little town and that far away time seems almost idyllic as I remember it now.
After three years we left Wilber when I graduated law school. We did so with a profound respect for the denizens of Wilber and surrounding area who elected a school board that thought it appropriate to teach French to children many of whom who were already fluent or nearly so in both English and Czech.
Sometimes small town people in flyover country are very wise. All the best.
RGK
I wonder if that’s why Wilber is now renowned as the foie gras guláš capital of Nebraska?
Close but no cigar. Houskový Knedlík and Pecena Kachna–dumplings and duck.
Q: Can a women lose her virginity from sliding down a pole?
A: Absolutely. A Czech too.
Sorry.
I lol’d.
Judge,
The humble kolache is underrated. I have only had them when driving through Texas, but after the first, I get them every time I drive through Texas. Do the Nebraskans make them with jalapenos as well, or is that a Czexan addition?
WFG,
Texas is violence and so are jalapenos.
But I absolutely love the word “Czexan.” My son-in-law is Czech and I intend to call him that every time he makes my grandchildren speak his languge. It will really annoy him. Thanks from the bottom of my pitiless heart.
All the best.
RGK
We’ll remember this comment next time you want to come through here Judge. I’m sure that knowledge of this and a little tip to the waitress can get you jalapeno pancakes.
Jalapenos and Kolache? I’m literally shaking right now. Except I’m adventurous enough with food that now I have to try it.
Kolache with some delicious ham on top, however, is another story. Idk if it’s a Slovak thing I inherited from gramps, or just something weird about him in particular, but do try it. Salty and sweet. Yum.
Jalapeno and cheese sausage kolaches are the only way to go.
I’ll see your Kolache and raise you a Trdelník, which I had filled with soft serve ice cream and hot chocolate in Prague. It was delightful.
Jake,
From what one of my daugters and her Czech husband tell me Prague is to die for. So I probably won’t go.
As for your slander of the Kolache, I know a guy.
All the best.
RGK
After a delightful 5 days in Prague some years ago, I still couldn’t say a damn word of that infuriatingly difficult language.
On the bright side, no one will ever accuse me of trying to culturally appropriate any parts of it.
I suppose this is being done with the thought that all these students will have digital “translator” apps that will serve as the go-between for their English and whatever other language they may need to employ.
My, aren’t you tech savvy these days.
Hah. I saw one on TV, being used for conversation between English and Japanese-speakers.
They are unacceptable for Miranda warnings, but good enough for TV. Go figure.
This week, I am working on transitioning from my flip phone to a “smart” phone. So I am “joining the century” but about twenty years late.
I would have thought that speaking a foreign language would be cultural appropriation. Certainly an American writing in a foreign language would be forcing our imperialism in to their pristine culture. Quelle horreur!
This post and the comments were so good. They had a certain je ne sais quois.
Have two grandkids in what I would call an intensive Mandarin program at their elementary school. And a teenage grandson who is attending both high school and the local four year college every school day.
The youngest speaks Mandarin one hours per day in a traditional language class setting. The older speaks Mandarin half days in whatever classes are offered during that part of the day. Both are tired of me joking that at least our family will be able to communicate with our future overlords. The frau toured China for two weeks this summer with the older elementary student as part of a group sponsored by the school.
The teenager attends college every other school day, is all about STEM and will graduate high school with a concurrent associate of science that will give him a two year head start on a baccalaureate degree. His foreign language is calculus.
Both programs are offered by standard public schools, but this is in Utah and we all know how weird “those people” are.
Yes, I am bragging.
不是太寒酸。
谢谢。
I feel your pain, yes I do.
My children went to one of the many private schools in Princeton- one with a lesser endowment. This school had a long-standing French and German program. The school got the new for the era idea to spend a fair amount of resources to sponsor a Chinese national to come and start a Mandarin language program to replace the German. All went well the first year- a lot of the students really liked it. It was announced at the beginning of the next year that a new Chinese national would be continuing the program. The original teacher, well liked and respected, had been poached away by one of the richer schools. All went well the second year. My kids really liked it and they seemed to be learning a lot. It was announced at the beginning of the next year that the program would be discontinued. The new teacher had been poached away by another of the richer school. The French program would have to suffice.
In defense of French: It is the most widely spoken second language; ergo, very useful over a large part of the world where English is not always spoken as a first or a second language. My son lives and studies in France and works in Africa occasionally. He says that he would never leave home without it, especially in Africa, and the middle east. Spanish is not that useful as a second language. I am fluent in Spanish but find it useless, as anyone with whom I could speak Spanish, usually knows English as a second language.
As my favorite options for retirement are Aix-en-Provence or Mogadishu, I really ought to get beyond French menus, shopping and sneering at sommeliers.
Retire in Mogadishu? You might be an anarchist.
It’s for my wife. It’s safer than a campus when it comes to rape and sexual assault.