National Security Language Initiative

[Jane Shuffelton]

As I high school teacher of Russian, I am extremely pleased by the  proposals 
in the initiative that stand to benefit students K-12.  If these  proposals 
translate into real programs, with real students,  some of those  students 
should be the ones who go on to boost enrollment in post-secondary  institutions, 
continue past college, and make contributions to the field in  whatever domain 
they choose.  
 
Let me relate the reaction of my principal when I showed her the details,  
and pointed out that RUSSIAN is one of the languages involved.  (As  background, 
you should know that central administration in our district is eager  to 
begin a Chinese program.)  She read the list of proposed programs (from  the State 
Department fact sheet at _http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/58733.htm_ 
(http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/58733.htmand) and
didn't hesitate a minute before saying "We should be offering Russian as a 
K-12  program instead of Chinese.  I will support that."   

Of course we all need to realize that it will take major efforts and  support 
to translate the proposal made last week into Congressionally funded  
programs.  This is by no means a "done deal".   It will take  hard work to persuade 
the right people of the necessity of funding programs for  students and 
teachers at all levels.  
 
We should realize the behind the scenes efforts by professionals in our  
field to make sure that Russian was one of the critical languages, by the  way.  I 
don't believe that Russian is the first language on Bush's mind  when he 
thinks about foreign languages, and I do believe that a lot of  persuasive talk 
was critical in keeping Russian part of this initiative. We  are very fortunate 
to have folks in the field who advocate for us in  Washington.
 
I am one of the people who remembers the Sputnik era: I was a junior in  high 
school when it was launched, and it made me start thinking about taking  
Russian in college.  My college class had enough majors in Slavic  Languages and 
Literature to double the size of the whole department.   I would like to 
believe that we are in another one of those moments when there  is  recognition of 
the importance of less commonly taught languages,  including ours. Let's hope 
the issue of critical languages captures the public -  or at least the Congress 
- and translates into real, funded programs at all  levels.
 
Jane Shuffelton
President, ACTR
Russian teacher
Brighton HS
Rochester, NY
 
 
 
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------