As noted in this week’s issue of The Hawk, “Language department battles declining student numbers,” there has been a noticeable decline in the language department at St Joe’s, with fewer chances for linguistic growth.
Bilingualism and multilingualism in the United States — a country with no official language — are lagging behind by a significant margin compared to other countries.
A new study published by Preply this year found that 58% of Americans who have never learned a second language other than English felt embarrassed by their inability to converse with people speaking a different language. Additionally, 21% have lost out on career opportunities due to their lack of proficiency, and 70% of Americans who have never learned a second language regret never having done so.
St. Joe’s is not exempt from this problem. As reported this week in the same article from The Hawk, the university’s Chinese and German programs have seen decreases in enrollment. As a result, programs like the German major and minor have been discontinued (the major in 2018 and the minor in 2023).
However, despite the lower number of students enrolled in programs like Chinese and German — as compared to other programs like Spanish, French and Italian — students are nonetheless still interested in learning these languages. These opportunities should be equally prioritized.
From a Jesuit perspective, it is a privilege to be able to engage with other human beings, regardless of their first language, in order to possess a more global understanding of our ever-evolving world. As Eric A. Clayton, a Jesuit and deputy director of communications at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, states in “How Learning Languages Helps Us Grow Spiritually,” “I wonder if we can learn something from learning foreign languages for our spiritual lives…Even if the right words aren’t there, the desire to communicate is.”
To prevent growth in these programs and fail to acknowledge the importance of language initiatives and the diversity they bring would not only be doing a disservice to the university, but also to the Jesuit teachings we aim to uphold.
St. Joe’s should be granting the language department far more priority — especially in light of the significant cut to the General Education Program (GEP) — by supporting students who wish to participate in said programs and by hiring additional faculty members who speak various languages, can teach multiple skill levels and are capable of meeting students where they are linguistically.
Considering that our nation is extremely multilingual and diverse, we have the potential to see growth in future American generations regarding language understanding, appreciation and fluency. Education is the first step to achieving this, a mindset that needs to be reflected in the university’s support of its language programs.