A Case Study in Educational Deterioration

5/22/2013

A relatively affluent, well educated, university-based community with a fine school system seems to be in the process of cutting back severely on foreign language instruction. Chapel Hill NC, of all places, is on the verge of deciding to wield the ax. And, as you might have guessed, Latin is most likely to be the first to get cut back. If so, othe victims will follow.

Why the proposed cuts?

Jim O’Hara of the UNC Classics Department explains: “As drastic budget problems caused both by the economy and an unwillingness to raise taxes lately. They have to cut some things, and naturally noticed that some advanced language courses are very small. “

So why these low enrollments? It turns out the “a growing state level emphasis on core curriculum subjects has shrunk enrollment levels in languages.” (Chapel Hill New May 22 2013, 8A). In other words Math, Science, Reading are in the state-wide tests; language learning is not. It doesn’t matter that the study of foreign languages is known to be a powerful means of developing long-lasting, high-level capacities such as critical thinking.

Even that may not be the whole story. In a hollowing-out economy, in a state with a high unemployment rate parents are understandably worried about courses that do not demonstrably lead to job opportunities. How much are they steering their kids away from what might in fact be the best educational course for them?

The good news is that students are leading the charge against the proposed change. If you want to join them send a message to all the School Board Members and the Superintendent's Office, at:[email protected]."

2 Comments

Emily Baragwanath

5/23/2013 07:26:25 pm

Weakening Chapel Hill’s distinguished programs in foreign languages will not only compromise the ability of NC students to enter competitive colleges and universities, but deprive them of the advantages of being equipped to deal with the challenges that our globally connected, international world presents. Foreign language study is becoming more important every day. These developments are especially bewildering in view of the recent high rankings of Chapel Hill-Carrboro local high schools. If the plans go ahead, they will certainly diminish those rankings.

George W. Houston

5/26/2013 11:55:33 pm

There are a number of research papers available on the Web that assess the value of Latin in the secondary curriculum. One is a 1997 paper (fifteen years old, but still useful) entitled “Efficacy of Latin Studies in the Information Age,” by Alice K. DeVane. Another, originally written twenty years ago but periodically updated (and now copyright 2013) is “The Role of Latin in American Education. A Position Paper from the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages.” These and numerous other studies define and, insofar as possible, quantify the benefits of the study of Latin. The NCSSL paper, for example, summarizes some of the benefits: “Students of Latin develop skills and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary and sentence structures…. Latin helps cultivate such mental processes as alertness, attention to detail, memory, logic, and critical reasoning.” It goes on to provide support for these general statements. Among other things, “Tests conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) from 1988 to 1997 show that Latin students outperform all other students on the verbal portion of the SAT.”

Administrators are prone to point out that Latin students do better on the SAT exams because they are more academically inclined in the first place. This is, in part, true, but it is an oversimplification. Students who take Latin, no matter how academically inclined, tend to improve their SAT scores. But more importantly, it is not a valid argument for the discontinuation of Latin: don’t we WANT to have courses that appeal to and challenge those students who are academically strong? Surely we do not want a curriculum that is aimed exclusively at students who are NOT interested in academics. I should think that in a University town such as Chapel Hill we would want as challenging a program as possible, and that we would seek, and find, ways to offer such courses even if the numbers of students demanding them are relatively small.

A Case Study in Educational Deterioration

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