The first foreign language course in college

lkf725
Tue, 27 May 2008 15:10:14 +0000

I am prompted to ask why on earth colleges require a foreign language. Oh, I know about the global economy, etc, but the couple of semesters of study will leave students far from proficiency anyway. Is the point to have enough students to support various foreign language departments? If the point is cultural understanding and appreciation, maybe the students should have a cultural learning requirement instead.

I have a kid who is very fluent in German and appreciate the availability of upper level foreign language courses; however, the class sizes were always very small with many classes not offered every semester. Why make everyone take languages whether they are interested or not, when they could make better use of their time studying something they are actually interested in? Then professors could shift their attention from hoards of uninterested kids forced to study entry level courses to more advanced and interested students.