Last updated on 2011.11.09
I am attending the South Dakota World Languages Association conference here in Spearfish this weekend. We are a small group, in no small part due to a deeply ingrained resistance to foreign language education written into statute by our Legislature. I base the following brief history of recent South Dakota foreign language education policy on a presentation delivered Friday afternoon by Dr. Samuel Gingerich, system chief academic officer for the South Dakota Board of Regents.
The term of art among my new colleagues is "world languages." Calling French, Spanish, Chinese, etc. represents an ethnocentric and possibly marginalizing viewpoint. The term "foreign" also poorly encompasses teaching Lakota here in South Dakota, where it is a native tongue. However, "world language" doesn't quite capture Lakota, either. It also includes English, but the ESL teachers have their own club.
In 1985, the South Dakota Board of Regents decided to require two years of foreign language for admission to South Dakota's public universities and colleges. Students graduating in 1989 would have been the first to face this requirement. However, an alarmed Legislature convened in 1986 to write into statute that "...no high school graduate may be denied admission to an institution under the control of the Board of Regents because he does not meet the Board of Regents' foreign language admission requirement."
In 2002, the Legislature managed to repeal this anti-education mandate, but only upon assurances from the Regents that they would not impose any foreign language requirements. South Dakota thus remains one of only three states (Kansas and Alaska are the others) that do not require foreign language to enter their state universities. Consider: that means our legislators are telling our children that a "complete" high school education does not include being able to gain admittance to college in 47 of 50 states.
While the Legislature has refused to use the stick to drive more kids to foreign language education, it has been willing to let the Regents use the carrot, through its Regents and Opportunity Scholarships. For some time, the Board of Regents has required students to complete two years of a single foreign language to be eligible for certain financial assistance. But in 2009, the Legislature undermined even that incentive. With Senate Bill 185 (sponsored by Senator Russell Olson, whose faith in the value of a rigorous education is questionable), the Legislature revamped the Regents Scholar graduation requirements by lumping foreign language in with career and technical classes. In 2010, the Legislature passed HB 1190, sponsored by Senator Olson and Rep. Jason Freirchs, which allows students seeking the Opportunity Scholarship to replace their foreign language classes with career and technical classes.
The short-sighted suggestion here is that students gravitating toward the technical fields won't benefit from taking foreign languages... because of course, they don't live in the global economy. They don't live in communities with increasing immigrant populations. They aren't exposed to foreign movies and music via the Internet. Their daily lives aren't affected by international news events. No, those things only happen to those fancy-pants kids who take calculus and art and enter frivolous fields like art or writing or teaching.
Toward the end of his speech, Dr. Gingerich said one of the best predictors of success in college is the completion of four years of foreign language before high school graduation. Yet our Legislature trembles at the thought of requiring South Dakota kids to work even half that hard. By leaving foreign language training completely optional, we leave our kids at a terrible disadvantage. We also leave foreign language programs at the perils of the budget axe, as schools faced with hard choices reduce their offerings to the bare statutory essentials.
I'm sad to be missing the SDWLA Conference this year. This group has been dear to my heart in the advocacy and professional development for teachers who attempt to enlighten students and the public to the educational benefits of language study, travel and to bring humanity as an end to prejudice. The grip of fear about World Languages study needs to end and it has always been comforting to know there is a group of people who support these means in the South Dakota World Languages Association. If you read these comments and feel compelled to make a donation, SDWLA is a 503(C) non-profit organization that works to ensure students have opportunities to view the world despite government and local action that attempts to suppress this learning experience.
We need to reduce artificial and unnecessary barriers as much as possible. Budget constraints and student numbers deny choice in teaching foreign language. My child may not desire to learn German or French, but may have a strong thirst for Spanish instead. None of these may be taught in person, but over the DDN.