Do you speak English?!

By: Jonathan Boydston

Posted: 5/27/08

Like many other students on our campus, I've had the chance to study a foreign language during my time at OSU.

I wasn't forced or even pressured to do so; I merely knew I wanted to go abroad and opted to get a head start on the language.

My plans were taking me to Italy, and it seemed only right to take Italian in preparation. Thankfully, OSU had an Italian curriculum at that time, and I was able to work two years into my schedule.

My experience in the department of foreign languages and literatures was an entirely positive one, highlighted by two professors who were able to connect with me more than anyone else in my collegiate career.

For this reason, the recent news of major budget cuts being inflicted on foreign languages and literatures - cuts that may eliminate Italian and other sections entirely - hit me particularly hard.

I have never given the university much credit for properly spending my money; on the contrary, I realized soon after I arrived here that the powers that be will never fail at squandering the resources we supply.

Maybe it was the smiley faces painted around campus that tipped me off, or the loyalty to a gas-guzzling shuttle system that is hardly ever used; but surely enough there came a day when I entirely lost hope in the fiscal responsibility of Oregon State University.

The news of the university pressuring foreign languages and literatures to cut class offerings certainly joins a long list of unwise actions taken by OSU. To me, this action is particularly reckless.

In a world that is seeing a constant increase in communication between nations and people it is unreal to think that cutting back on foreign language education is anything but foolish.

I would venture to say that the majority of Anglophonic Americans interact with non-English speakers fairly frequently, yet our nation is still resistant to the type of foreign language education common in other Western nations.

This has understandably more to do with our public K-12 education system and less to do with our nation's universities.

I would think that higher education would work toward rectifying the shortcomings of primary and secondary education; instead it appears that this institution is content with satisfying the status quo.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences consistently graduates the most students of any college at this university, yet because programs like foreign languages do not fit the profile of this research institution, the administration apparently feels that classes like Italian, Arabic and others are expendable.

This would be all well and good if there were no demand for such classes or if this university were somehow affordable enough to justify such treatment. Unfortunately neither is true.

Students continue to register for foreign language classes, and this university continues asking for more and more money.

So my question is this: Why can't we afford to educate our students in subjects they want to learn?

I am convinced that someone at this place must have some sort of answer for me, though I'm not sure their answer will satisfy my need for a proper explanation.

I assure you that they will not be able to explain to me why an institution of such apparent prominence cannot afford to pay one faculty member to teach two classes of Italian. Nor will they be able to properly explain how they determine which areas of learning are more important than others.

Such questions simply do not have answers worth my time.

As I thought about this topic, I reverted back to my time studying in Italy.

I thought of what my foreign friends might have said if I tried to explain how my school seems to favor football over foreign language and baseball over cultural education.

I thought of all the students who might never be able to hold a conversation with a foreigner on account of our university not having enough money to offer that language.

I would hope that such a thing never happens, but unless something is done soon, I am worried that such fears will only become reality.

Jonathan Boydston is a senior in fisheries and wildlife sciences and English. The opinions expressed in his columns do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Barometer staff. Boydston can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.