I have never been the best at learning languages. Although there was a time when I wanted to be a linguist and speak French, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, and more, these foreign languages never came easily to me. Call it a personal problem, a failure of the US’ public school programs; call it what you will. I would’ve happily ended my journey in foreign languages, with a deep respect for those who can speak multiple tongues, if it had not been for one pesky problem: the University of Michigan’s fourth-semester language proficiency requirement.Â
Despite taking seven years of French, I tested into the 103-level once I arrived at Michigan. Knowing I had a rough relationship with the language, and that I was going to have to take at least three semesters of a language anyway, I chose to switch to Spanish. As I write this, I am currently finishing Spanish 232, the final four credits of the 16 required of me. I remain poor at language learning; I still struggle with Ser versus Estar, when to use the preterite versus the imperfect, and with conjugating irregular verbs. But now I suppose, I can say that in college I took Spanish!
My point is not that the language requirement is useless. In fact, I think it is valuable for students to have at least a working knowledge of a foreign language, especially one as widespread as Spanish. However, there have been many classes I could not take because of Spanish – classes that relate to my major and minor, classes that could be more applicable to my career, etc. Over a dozen of credits that I pay for have been spent on a subject I will likely never think about again once I leave the Modern Languages Building in the coming weeks. Another frustration that comes with this requirement is that it is only required of LSA students. I know I have no desire or present need to learn a language, regardless of the fact that, as a Communications & Media major, I am in the college of general studies. I question why I and other LSA students are cornered into taking this heavy number of courses, when students in engineering, business, kinesiology, and more are exempt. Regardless of their specialization, the enormous number of students who are exempt from this requirement makes it feel less like Michigan cares about diversifying students’ worldview than it does about optimizing courseloads for their preferred schools of study.Â
Again, it is not that I believe learning a language is fruitless. Rather, I believe that Michigan should be more reasonable in their expectations of LSA students. Requiring two semesters of a language, in my opinion, is far more equitable to students and maintains the University’s policy at a more reasonable level. Two semesters ensures students develop a stronger working knowledge of a language while limiting the amount of credits spent on non-major-related courses. Additionally, these classes would likely be taken during students’ freshmen years, when they are already taking classes to fill distributions across the board. Students may actually find interest in and a desire to take more language classes if they don’t feel so cornered into taking them, which is a sentiment too many LSA students are familiar with. At the end of the day, language learning is important. However, if it is so important that the University created a mandatory policy for it, why isn’t it required of every Michigan student? That is why the four semester requirement should be abolished in favor of a two semester one, giving equal opportunity to all students between the schools.