The 2024-25 school year brought many changes to the course catalog and new faces among staff and faculty. Among these changes include saying goodbye to Professor Diana Gonzales and Professor Kris McDonald from the foreign language department, and welcoming Dr. César Ruiz Ledesma as the assistant professor of Spanish. The decision to hire just one professor in place of the two stemmed from a change in Northwestern’s foreign language requirement.
In past years, all traditional undergraduate students were required to take two classes of foreign language in order to complete their degree. The majority of students took Spanish classes while others opted for Greek, Hebrew or Latin depending on their major. However, starting this year, students no longer have to take two semesters of foreign language, and instead are required to take two cross-cultural classes, such as Human Relations, Cultural Anthropology and Sport & Society.
In terms of why NW came to this conclusion, some argue that the college made this decision out of economic purposes. The Foreign Language department does not have as many students majoring in its program compared to other departments, and perhaps the administration wanted to focus their finances on other departments with more students.
Another potential reason is that students who were not interested in learning another language just barely scraped by in their Spanish classes. This brought down students’ GPA and took their focus from classes within their major, and therefore many will celebrate the new space in their schedule and degree audit. Many people, including staff, faculty and students, have debated the benefits and consequences of this decision. Students are relieved at this change, since that frees up their schedule to take more classes relating to their major, but other students are apprehensive about the consequences.
One of the major concerns is the lack of cultural awareness, empathy and knowledge that comes from not immersing oneself into another language and culture. Students that have never studied another language do not know the obstacles to becoming bilingual and therefore have little capacity for understanding or empathy towards someone whose second language is English. “Exposure to foreign languages helps people understand difficulties for people who do not have English as their first language,” says Misava Mongwe, a NW international student. “It allows people to explore a different perspective, especially because there are so many Spanish speakers here.”
This notion brings up an important point; that Spanish is no longer a foreign language in Sioux County, but a local one. Orange City is becoming increasingly diverse in background and language, and with the loss of the foreign language requirement, NW students are no longer equipped to interact with and serve their community members.
Beyond empathy and understanding, the study of a second language has biological and professional benefits as well. Studies have shown that learning another language has an immense positive impact on one’s brain, including better decision-making, creativity and memory. Furthermore, for a demographic that is preparing for the professional world, having even a slight proficiency in a second language on one’s resumé can mean the difference between a job and a rejection, especially in the field of education and business.
Jorge Menéndez, a bilingual student, articulate this further; “I think a lot of Americans underestimate the power of being bilingual. Only knowing one language limits students into a bubble, and means they have less opportunities to go out of their comfort zone.” Even if students do not come away from their NW experience fluent in another language, even having a small amount of proficiency can go a long way towards landing a job, becoming a better learner and growing in understanding of one’s neighbor.
