With course selection season in session, students will once again need to make choices on classes to take in the next school year. While “core classes” such as math or English are prioritized, other important subjects are forced to take a backseat—one of which is world language. ICSD students are required to take a world language class in middle school, but the subject is offered as elective at IHS. However, with a lack of availability in students’ schedules and of academic support for world languages, IHS has seen a steady decline in the total number of world language students. Furthermore, IHS has struggled to keep students in their respective language programs for longer than two years. The ICSD Equity Report shows that the percentage of students taking a language course between ninth graders and twelfth graders shows a significant drop from 66.7 percent to 12.8 percent.
With respect to the causes beyond the language department, it is important to note that only one credit in a world language is required to graduate IHS. By the New York State standards, in order to receive an advanced designation diploma one must take three credits, but this is still fewer than the required number for other liberal arts subjects. English and Social Studies both require four credits for graduation, regardless of diploma type. What this means is it is not necessary for students to take world language past eighth grade for a regents diploma, or tenth grade for advanced designation. Even if students do not take three credits of language, they can still achieve an advanced designation diploma by taking five fine arts credits. According to one student, they were advised to pursue the fine arts option but not informed of the importance of world languages in college applications. Such a system only disincentivizes students from continuing their linguistic education throughout their entire high school career, and although adding more requirements is not feasible, IHS should provide language students with more resources to succeed.
Another issue arises when it comes to the number of credits encouraged by the school. With retention steeply dropping after students’ third year of world language, a full program of all levels is hard to maintain. This is especially apparent in smaller language departments such as Latin and German. Sabine Wintermute, the only German teacher at IHS, shared the struggles of providing equal academic opportunities for all levels of world language: “It’s important to offer both Regents and Honors sections to ensure all students who want to participate have the opportunity. A truncated program that ends at Level 3, for example, is doomed to eventual extinction. Unfortunately, smaller populated upper-division courses (Levels 4 and 5) have both levels in one class.” Many students are likely to drop out of their world language elective after the one or three year requirement, or even before then, which leaves the department no choice but to combine smaller classes. These combined classes are not a new concept in the world language department; they existed for the past several years. However, having to meet the needs of both Regents and Honors level students within one class period poses a difficulty. On teaching these levels simultaneously, Wintermute says that “on the one hand, it is necessary to keep the program alive but on the other, each level in one class reduces overall program delivery since accommodations are needed.”
The decrease in high school students opting for a world language course may be attributed to deficiencies in student support within the department. The current number of teachers for each language of one to three teachers per language exacerbates the problem, taking a toll on both the educators and students. For educators, the limited resources make it difficult for teachers to establish deeper, meaningful connections with their students, and provide help with their students falling behind. For example, Wintermute is currently teaching six blocks of German alone. “As a teacher, preparing and delivering so many levels is challenging, time-consuming, and, at times, exhausting,” she told The Tattler. Teachers who are responsible for several classes at a time are only able to balance so many things at once, and diminishes the quality of language learning at IHS as a whole. Hiring more teachers can be one solution to resolve many of the issues with student support that are currently occurring. The Tattler Editorial board recognizes the challenges posed by the constraint of resources and urges the IHS administration to make a collaborative effort in finding viable solutions to provide language students and teachers with better support.
Furthermore, while all students are welcomed to the Reading & Writing and Math Labs for extra academic support, such assistance is not offered to world language students. Students who are falling behind often lack the resources to be able to thrive, and the absence of personalized support outside of class time can leave students in a quandary. Without a net for those who are struggling, students only continue to fall behind, which compromises the overall learning experience. “We used to offer an AIS (Academic Intervention Service) section or two … Students who normally need AIS in language, need it elsewhere, and we’re still under the umbrella of ‘core goes first before electives.’” It’s difficult for students to get the help they need in language because other subjects are often prioritized.
World languages have many applications in the modern world, and such a lack of support disincentivizes students from studying them. Additionally, IHS requiring fewer years of world language instruction sends a message that we value it less than other “core” subjects. By making a value judgement on its departments, IHS implies that world languages are less important than other classes and should therefore not be prioritized. In an increasingly global world, such a de-emphasis of language classes does a great disservice to students.
The rising numbers of Spanish speaking workers in America makes fluency in that language a very marketable skill. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Employers’ need for fluent bilinguals has been so great that the job site Indeed recently ranked translation as the fifth most in-demand skill in the workforce.” If high schools de-emphasize this aspect of education, they might be hurting their students’ future job prospects. Lana Craig, IHS Spanish teacher and Head of the World Languages Department, told The Tattler that “Marketability hasn’t been emphasized enough.” If schools cannot illustrate to students the practical benefits of learning a language, then we will continue to see large numbers of students dropping these classes.
The practical usefulness of languages is not limited to Spanish. It is necessary that we preserve great literature written in many different languages. For that to happen, we must have high quality world language teachers. If our schools are not educating many students in world languages, we are likely to see a reduction in the already small number of language teachers over the coming years.
Lastly, language learning is not just about practical applicability in the job market. As Craig says, “There’s just no respect for what language represents above and beyond speaking it.” Learning a world language can train you to think in new ways and appreciate different cultures. Additionally, having to learn grammar in another language from the ground up often teaches you a great deal about English. Suzanne Nussbaum teaches Latin at IHS and told The Tattler that “Students often tell me that they’ve learned something about English grammar from Latin class: that’s the way it was for me, too.” Learning a new language can be exhilarating and help you better understand your own. If for that joy of exploration alone, students should consider staying with their language classes through high school.
Obviously not everyone is interested in language, no matter how practically applicable or intrinsically beautiful it is. Language teachers don’t expect every high school student to take their classes up to the AP level, but more respect for what world languages can do would go a long way.