@doschicos I am all for fluency; but I think more kids should be developing their fluency in languages other than Spanish. That’s all I am saying: 1/2 the kids developing fluency, or beginning to, in Spanish is too great a proportion. I would say that about any language, no matter how “important” or “useful” it is perceived to be. (There’s nothing otherwise wrong with advanced offerings in any language, including Spanish.)
Academic diversity is a good thing— and this should be encouraged by schools. In that sense, it is not “if you build it, they will come,” but instead “we want students who have non-typical academic interests”.
I really don’t know about Portuguese in LACs. I would think those more known for Latin American studies would have it, but I am speculating. I think most larger universities have it, though…
I was just using Portuguese as an example which I thought would make for an easy resource allocation for schools. From what I am hearing, that’s not so. So be it — pick any modern language you want, but I think more academic diversification for language study is needed, and many schools have more than ample resources to accomplish it.