Kyle Sharma '26 | Opinion: Why We Shouldn’t Say “Tschau!” to The William & Mary German Program

The German Studies majors from the class of 2023. Source: William & Mary

At the beginning of February 2023, the William & Mary administration made a sudden announcement: the German Studies major would immediately be discontinued. It was a startling surprise for both the students and professors in the department, especially for the freshmen and sophomores who were in the process of declaring their majors. As unfortunate as it is to lose out on the major, though, at least we still have a German minor, and a department as a whole.

According to Suzanne Raitt, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at William & Mary, “All faculty positions will remain, and we will work with the faculty and students to ensure that declared majors graduate on time and have a full slate of courses available to them” (Henry, 2023). Unfortunately, this olive-branch compromise is not the standard. At over 650 colleges between 2013 and 2016, language programs were eliminated, meaning that no classes in a certain language were even offered. 

Even at William & Mary, things are not as idyllic as they might first appear. In Spring 2021, Professor Veronika Burney’s contract was not renewed, and in 2022, after Professor Robert Leventhal retired, the department was not allowed to fill the vacancy. As it is now, he tenured faculty may be able to stay with the school, but their spots are not reopened once they retire, and professors who are not tenured have no guarantee of ever getting it.

This loss of language programs at American universities is a disturbing trend, especially considering Americans are well behind the rest of the world in languages. Based on data from the language learning app Preply, about 3.3 billion people, or 43% of people in the world, are bilingual. In America, however, only 21.6% of people are bilingual. If we narrow our focus to American-born people who grew up in English-speaking homes, we are left with approximately 7 million Americans, just 10% of the already small 21.6% who are bilingual in the first place. In a country that prides itself on being a global superpower, most of its population cannot speak anything other than English. Where free public high school education tends to fail at solidly laying the foundation of a foreign language, colleges like William & Mary should, and do, pride themselves in hiring native speakers to educate students with robust curriculums and study abroad immersion opportunities.

So, why are we getting rid of them? For the William & Mary German major, Suzanne Raitt cited an inability to meet “external requirements set by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia” (Ruangsawasdi, 2023). However, six other undergraduate programs do not comply with these SCHEV productivity targets, including American Studies, Religion, and Theatre and Speech, and there are still “no plans to discontinue” any of these majors. Clearly, the SCHEV guidelines are not the only reason behind gutting the German major.

Another possibility is a decrease in popularity. Statistics from the Modern Language Association (MLA) show that there was a 15.3% decline in foreign-language course enrollments from 2009 to 2016. Similarly, the American Academy of Arts and Science reported that 12% of foreign-language degree programs were cut after the 2008 recession, as opposed to 6% of all degree programs. During times of economic distress, language courses tend to suffer disproportionately. With a recession on the horizon, William & Mary’s decision to cut their German program makes some sense; might as well cut the program now and save that money.

 To the students who were taking German Studies, though, this ends-justifies-means approach came as a nasty shock. The decision to announce it mid-semester, without any prior warning for students, made it so that many students who were in the process of declaring the German major were unable to submit in time. Most of the final majors in the department, who were juniors at the time of the announcement, will be in the class of 2024. For the classes after that, the lucky few who were able to declare are just that: few.

Furthermore, saving a couple of dollars is not worth drastically reducing the quality of a college education. Language learning literally strengthens your brain, regardless of how often you use your second language. Bilingual people have better problem-solving skills, delayed development of dementia, and improved decision-making skills. They also have stronger memories, visual-spatial skills, and creativity than their monolingual counterparts (Marian and Shook, 2012). And, the effects still manifest themselves in people who learn languages later in life, so starting in college does not dampen any of these effects.

On a more human level, more people knowing more languages allows us to communicate with each other more effectively. English is spoken by 1.5 billion people, which makes it one of most spoken languages in the world. However, with the world population recently hitting eight billion as of November 2022, that only accounts for a bit over 18% of people being able to speak English. More language proficiency means better communication around the world.

Learning German specifically has a host of benefits as well. Germany has the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest GDP (Global Domestic Product) in the world, only behind America, China, and Japan. Therefore, knowing German is a massive advantage in the global business landscape. German is also the second largest native-speaking population in Europe behind Russian, while being the most widely understood language throughout Europe behind English. If you’re lost in Europe and ask for directions from someone who does not know English, there’s a good chance they know German. German is also the second most commonly used language in science, according to the Goethe-Institut. From economics to travel to science, speaking German offers a pathway to it all.

For college students specifically, German can be a very attractive choice as a secondary language. Many students majoring in Global Studies, European Studies, and International Relations could benefit tremendously from taking German, as it applies directly to their major. For students who are interested in Business or Finance, knowledge of the German language can lead to a leg up in the booming German economy. For Education majors who take German, the pathway of being a language teacher is unlocked. Knowing languages like German also opens up scholarships like the Fulbright Scholarship, which allow students to study, research, or work abroad in countries like Germany.

On top of the benefits of learning a language, William & Mary even has a requirement that states that “all students will have proficiency in a foreign language”. However, they still chose to limit the options for students who are genuinely interested in pursuing a language by cutting the German Studies major. Simply having a language requirement, it seems, is not enough to guarantee major or department longevity. The best way to solve every problem felt by language departments, from lack of interest to budget cuts to loss of majors, is with administrative support.

There are several different ways for administrators to support language programs. Monetarily, they can offer scholarships that go to students in language programs, hire more professors or offer subsidized training to those they have, or partner with schools in countries that speak the target language to create exchange and study abroad programs. Allowing more freedom in course selection would also be a massive improvement, as students with rigid course catalogs cannot take language courses, and thus have no chance of becoming language majors.

The only reason administrators would support language programs, though, is if there is interest in the program. It makes no sense, logically or financially, to support a program with few students in it. To get anywhere with revitalizing language programs, students must actually take language classes. Currently, the ratio of students to teachers is between 15:1 and 20:1 for most of the German classes taught at William & Mary. However, there are only 13 total German classes being offered in the Fall 2023 semester, and 16 being offered in the spring semester. If more students take German language courses, it would become much easier to tenure more professors, offer more classes, and keep the department alive.

So, despite the lack of a major, I still intend to take German classes for as long as William & Mary offers them. For the sake of other students across the country, though, I hope their language programs don’t go ‘kaputt’ before they even have the chance to say “Auf Wiedersehen!"