CAN PRIN BE GLOBAL
WITH JUST TWO LANGUAGES?

In a globalized world, Principia College markets itself as an internationally-focused campus by requiring foreign language education and promoting its impressive abroad programs and diverse student body from 27 countries.

But language and cultural course offerings have shrunk from their peak in the 1960s and 1970s when 80 to 90 students took Polish, Italian and Chinese. These were supplementary offerings in addition to majors offered in Spanish, French, Asian Studies, Russian Studies, and German Studies, taught by seven to eight professors.

Today the language department has two majors and half of the faculty.

If globalization is an essential piece to Principia’s identity, what happened within the language program?

Low language enrollment combined with changing student interests toward different languages are two contributing factors to this issue.

“Language has been retreating for decades,” says history and former German professor, Greg Sandford. Asked why students aren’t more attracted to language classes, Sandford says, “That is really a bigger question that the department has been tackling: ‘how do we get more people interested in the humanities?’”

Some students feel pressure to pick majors that they think will get them jobs faster, and they shy away from the humanities.

Still, there are some humanities students who are interested in languages beyond the French and Spanish offered at Principia.

Lexi Schuck transferred from Principia to Webster University two years ago to get better language offerings. Schuck took Spanish and 

one non-credit Chinese course at Principia, which she says “were really great.” But when she wanted more Chinese, her only option was to find classes through a different outlet.

“The fact that it was all sort of put on me is what turned me from going back to Prin,” says Schuck. She transferred to Webster University, in St. Louis, where she is now a junior studying sociology, Spanish, and Chinese.

Freshman Sarah Geis, who took German for two years in high school is “bummed that Prin doesn’t have German.”

She doesn’t “want to start over with a new language” to meet the college language requirement – which for some students can mean up to a year and a half of foreign language classes.

Duncan Charters, chair of the language department, suggested she take German courses online.

Sandford notes that more students are interested in languages such as Chinese and Arabic than they are European languages like Spanish and French.

He explains that often the “countries and languages we’re attracted to are the ones creating trouble.”

During the Cold War, many students wanted to learn Russian. Now, with turmoil in the Middle East and trade with China, Arabic and Chinese are higher in demand. However, Principia doesn’t have enough student interest and resources to offer these languages as programs.

Students interviewed for this story agreed that providing a wider language offering would increase student enrollment within the language department. Some students enjoyed language while in high school but don’t feel they would use it much in their future careers.

Departments with larger student interest receive more funding, so financial support has been a large challenge for the department. For the 2018-2019 school year, the Spanish department will have a part-time visiting professor and two full-time faculty members while the French department will have one and a half full-time faculty members.

Charters heads the Language Institute which supports students interested in languages outside of program offerings. But next year, the department won’t “have any dedicated faculty position specifically assigned to the Language Institute,” he says.

Global Studies major Ian Tennison has worked with the Language Institute to study Arabic, especially since his family has Egyptian roots, and he lived there for a short time. He wanted to learn by traveling because “immersion is the best way to learn,” Tennison says.

Last summer, he studied at an informal language institute in Egypt and hopes to finish his second year of language back in Northern Africa next year.

He wants to achieve “intermediate low” on the Oral Proficiency Interview, administered by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. According to the proficiency guidelines established in 2012, achieving “intermediate low” means that students “are able to handle successfully a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks,” and they have “survival in the target-language culture.”

Although it was a challenging process, “Duncan bent over backwards [to create the plan],” says Tennison. “I’m very grateful.”

In addition to supporting students with outside language resources, Charters hopes to create online language courses for Principia. These would support first-year students and extend beyond the Principia community to include Principia alumni and non-Christian Scientists interested in learning languages.

Stories like these suggest a creative flexibility to meet student needs. And, what Principia does offer is recognized as strong.

After studying French since age 12, Niklas Peschke feels that the French major “has been challenging in all the right ways.”

In April, he presented his capstone entitled, “Women’s Voice and Protofeminism in French Literature.”

Peschke never expected to delve into this topic, but he praises French professor, Helene Brown, who he says helped him to “love literature in a whole new way.”

Peschke’s major was bolstered with six weeks studying abroad in France. After graduation in May, he will return to Toulouse, France, where he was accepted into a competitive program as a middle school and high school teaching assistant. He will teach English for eight months.

Stories like Peschke’s indicate that regardless of a reduced language program, students still can get a quality foreign language and intercultural competence education.

Peschke says that French allows him to “express my yearning to reach out and learn what it means to relate to a culture completely unknown to me.”

Through learning experiences that have pushed him out of his comfort zone, Peschke has learned that “language is a journey of patience and self-love.” These qualities have been important to Peschke’s development as a global citizen.

As Principia continues preparing future global citizens, Sandford hopes “that interest in international affairs will revive interest in language.”

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