The Hopkins Center for Language Education (CLE) is in the process of cutting language programs which it considers to be “less taught.” Over the past three years, the new CLE director and the Dean’s Office have whittled away at the department’s language offerings, cutting Hindi courses and altogether eliminating the Farsi and Swahili programs.
The editorial board urges the CLE to desist from cutting any more language programs and to restore the eliminated programs.
Hopkins is an international school with one of the nation’s most prestigious International Studies programs. The IS major is the most popular at Hopkins, which promotes itself as a global university with campuses in Nanjing and Bologna. The University prides itself on creating truly global students.
To this end, gutting the language program is both ironic and injurious. Many students come to Hopkins to learn about the world, other nations, cultures and identities. But they face unnecessary obstacles in their studies if Hopkins reduces the variety of languages offered.
What’s more, the courses which the CLE cites as “less taught” don’t actually have low enrollment rates. When compared to other universities of a similar size, 11 students in an intermediate Hindi class is not all that unusual. Duke University currently has eight students in its third-year Hindi course; Northwestern University has six. And if the CLE is so concerned about enrollment rates, they should advertise and promote these “less taught” classes. Instead of gutting the language programs and leaving students out to dry, they should work to actively inform students that these languages are offered and that they are important languages to learn.
Speaking of importance, cutting language instruction in Persian, Hindi and Swahili is not only unfair, it is misguided. The languages which the CLE has chosen to eliminate are perhaps the most critical languages in the world today and will only continue to grow in importance.
Persian is the official language of Iran and Afghanistan, and it is also spoken in many other Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Those who have watched the news in the past decade will probably realize that these are all vitally important nations which hold a great deal of sway in the international community.
Iran, for instance, is the focal point of international attention as it continues to escalate its nuclear program. The U.S. has been waging a decade-long war in Afghanistan, and U.S. troops will likely be there until long after 2014. The U.S. has its largest embassy in the world in Iraq and the U.S.-Iraqi relationship is one of the most prized in the region. Bahrain and the UAE are two of the region’s most wealthy and oil-rich countries. Yemen is a world leader in harboring terrorists, the government is failing and the people need help. The world needs more Persian speakers, not fewer.
Hindi is an official language of India, which is a key U.S. ally, the second-most populous nation in the world, the most populous democracy in the world, with one of the fastest growing economies. It maintains a large stockpile of nuclear weapons and has less-than-friendly relations with neighboring Pakistan, which also has nuclear weapons. Maintaining diplomatic relations with India and facilitating discussion with Pakistan are top concerns of the U.S. State Department. The world needs more Hindi speakers, not fewer.
Swahili is spoken in many African nations, one of which is Somalia, an international hotbed of terrorism and piracy. Learning to speak this language is vital to U.S. interests in maintaining a stable African continent and a safer international community. The African continent is also in the process of a major transformation and these African nations will soon be key players on the world stage. The world needs more Swahili speakers, not fewer.
But learning these vital languages will not only help to pursue U.S. and international goals of stability and security; it will also help Hopkins students in their job hunts. And in this down economy, students can use all the help they can get. The U.S. government and other international organizations, for example, are actively seeking to recruit Persian, Swahili and Hindi speakers, but there are few fluent speakers in America. This means that those who do speak these languages have a leg up on their competition in the job market. With such a high demand and low supply, Hopkins should be encouraging students to learn these languages, not turning them away.
This article was corrected to state that India is not in the Middle East.
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