Johnson doesn’t lay the blame on the DOE or the school. Rather, he says, educators have been forced to shift emphasis to core subjects like math, reading and science to meet federal standards, at the expense of subjects like art, music and foreign languages. “There are only eight periods in the day,” he says.
Other trends have diminished language offerings, including the relative rarity of instructors certified to teach foreign languages. “That is a problem that even the Department of Education has recognized, the fact that they have a huge shortage of certified teachers,” says Avitia.
Indeed, Santos from DOE said foreign language instruction is an area where "we’re constantly looking for people." The DOE’s recruitment Web site, however, does little to encourage teachers of languages other than Spanish to apply. “Please note that vacancies in non-shortage areas such as visual art, early childhood, and foreign languages other than Spanish are extremely limited,” says a note to potential applicants.
Another factor shrinking language options is the rise of small schools. Replacing large high schools with smaller academies has been one of Mayor Bloomberg’s top education reforms. Many of the new small schools don’t have enough students to justify offering multiple foreign languages. “For sometimes financial reasons they are offering one language rather than two or three,” says Pietanza. “When you’re starting with a small school and you start with 100 students, that would give you enough classes to start with maybe one teacher.”
Santos counters that the department is increasing language options. “We are always promoting the expansion of languages because of choice. We would like certainly to promote choice so that kids and parents have choice within the schools.” Often the expansion is in response to interest from students and community organizations – a factor that recently spurred an increase in Chinese offerings, she says.
And because students now apply to multiple high schools rather than simply attending a school in their neighborhood, kids who want to learn a particular language can choose schools that offer those classes. “Some of the schools have embraced multiple languages,” Santos says. “You see kids who are Spanish speakers learning English and taking French.”
But the pressures reducing language offerings – federal requirements, scarce teachers and small schools – show no signs of abating. And with school budgets tightening as the city and state face an economic downturn, the resources to increase language options may not be available in many schools.
For many students, even those who already speak Spanish, the limited options will be just fine, but some will miss the chance to expand their language skills beyond English. “We’re supposed to be the slowest second-language acquirers in the world,” says Johnson. “For my part, I have always found out that the children are quite willing to learn a foreign language.”
