I concur with the concerns expressed within this article. For a Deparment of Education that is pressing for greater accounability and transparency on the part of institutions and accreditors, this one is certainly not very forthcoming concerning its own direction, purposes, rationale, and accountability. By the way, L.L., while the “late, great Rodney Dangerfield” might often have said “O Death, where is they sting,” the quote actually comes from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:55.

P.J., at 9:25 am EDT on May 14, 2007

The person who is in charge of the Office of Post Secondary Information, and who is making these changes, couldn’t manage a convenient store. He has no knowledge of, interest in, or appreciation for the higher education community. When is the Secretary going to put someone in charge who knows what they’re doing?

While not meaning to disparage Ms. Mahaffie, this particular move is simply an internal power play and a slap in the face to the Title VI and Fulbright Hayes community.

collegeshouldjustbefree, at 11:10 am EDT on May 14, 2007

You would think that Department of Education would look at what DOJ and Gonzalez are going through after random removal of key staff? I hope that Education will better explain their reasons for the move.

D.B., at 11:40 am EDT on May 14, 2007

A little caution please

I think everyone needs to show a little restraint before they jump on the bash Bush administration bandwagon! Perhaps we should wait and see what Ralph Hines has to say about this. Remember him?..he’s the subject of the article and he was never even quoted! Maybe..just maybe...he requested this move for personal reasons. Probably not...but we won’t know all the facts until Ralph Hines speaks up! This article seems to have been written a bit prematurely in an effort to stir up trouble. Unfortunately, with the speed of the internet, it’s now the accusation that counts, not the facts.

RJ Lash, Getting Rid of Expertise, at 2:35 pm EDT on May 14, 2007

Important, Not Valued

Yes, it’s true that language and area studies are frequently referred to as important or even critical, by leaders in government, business, and academia.

The reality is that there is a disconnect between “important” and “valued.” These areas of study may be “important,” but they are most emphatically not “valued” in the American labor marketplace, and have marginally greater value in the global marketplace.

In years past, the premier scholarship award in the US to promote language and area scholarship for Asia was the Luce scholar program. This was a scholarship awarded to promising undergraduates who had had NO PRIOR EXPOSURE to the languages or cultures of Asia. Prior work, experience, and Asian language training were automatic disqualifiers. Students already in Asia area studies or languages were considered to have been “converted already” and therefore ineligible.

This attitude carries over to the business sector. Hiring is almost never done on the basis of existing language skills but rather on prior industry background and experience. Language skills are something to exercise with the Berlitz tape on the flight over, or something that the hire is born with. Inevitably there are disasters that result from this lack of awareness and expertise, but this is a cost the business world is, in aggregate, willing to bear.

Graduate school programs in critical languages were split with a sizeable percentage of students from the cultures under consideration. This did have an impact on the opportunities afforded non-"native learner” students.

Students for whom language and area studies were primary concerns wishing to develop parallel areas of expertise generally find that they are not welcome in most other areas of study at meaningful levels. There are a number of specialized law schools and one business school that welcome them without experience, but that’s about it.

Today, the primary emphasis of business engaging in cross-cultural exchages is on offshoring manufacturing and service elements, rather than developing exports, and typically language expertise is expected to be provided by the host country, rather than the consuming nation. Again, this is a set of practices fraught with disaster, but has nonetheless become the norm.

Frankly, the changes at the Department of Education couldn’t make a worse hash of promoting language and area studies than the DoE has made in past administrations. Too, there would seem to be a real limit to what the DoE can accomplish in the face of established prejudice and practice in American business and academia.

Scrawed, at 7:50 pm EDT on May 14, 2007

Loyalty v. competence

” .. It’s a shame your still blaming FEMA and Brownie for people who had five days notice to get out of the way of a category five hurricane ..”

Well, yes, I suppose Brownie having no prior public safety experience did qualify him for the FEMA director’s position.

Then again — most would like competence AND loyalty. Unfortunately, after great deal of thought, it appears to me that the Bush family is mostly incapable of finding staff with both. It is like Monica L., running against Ross Perot, Iran-Contra, 21% interest rates — the list goes on.

About Katrina — yes, building a metro on sinking plain, by the ocean, in the hurricane zone is ridiculous. I lived through several hurricanes and will never see black-green in the same light. But welcome to Beltway life.

L.L., at 8:30 pm EDT on May 14, 2007

Scrawed — what are you talking about with Department of Education and Luce grants... The Department of Education does not oversee the Luce grants, they oversee Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships or FLAS, and the Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad or DDRA grants. BOTH of these programs rank the applicants who have prior exposure and coursework in language HIGHER than novice applicants. Please get your information correct before you make statements.

Also, through International Education programs the government gets offerings in 220+ languages through universities. No federal language program including the Defense Language Institute offers more than 100 languages annually. This is more bang per buck than you get from other federal programs.

Emi;, at 4:40 am EDT on May 15, 2007

Emil -

Where in my discussion of the Luce scholarships did I claim that Luce is administered by the Department of Education?

I mention Luce because Luce’s implementation reflects broader societal attitudes towards language and area studies.

It is true that I did not mention FLAS. On the surface FLAS is a laudable program. However, there have been gaps in FLAS’ coverage of graduate foreign language and area studies programs. At least one well-regarded set of departments was denied FLAS funding for its students for several years in the 1990s. There are professors in critical languages who have gone their entire careers without seeing dollar one of FLAS funding.

Please get your facts straight before commenting.

Scrawed, at 1:25 pm EDT on May 15, 2007