I was fortunate in high school to have a fabulous German
teacher. I learned to conjugate verbs in German class, not in
English class, because the English teaching community had
somehow decided that grammar drills were cruel and boring.

No they weren't. They were useful, especially at an age where
my brain was forming synaptic connections that served me well
through college and beyond. Also, if we'd never had those
fabulous German breakfasts with the soft boiled eggs and black
bread, I'd still be buying salted butter...yuck!

Without German class, I'd never have learned "Wien, Wein, Nur
Du Allein," which is one of the most gorgeously cornball songs
in the history of music.

Without German class, I'd never have been able to schmooze the
doctor in Berlin with whom my boss at the pharmaceutical
company wanted to form a research collaboration.

Now, having said all that, if I had to do it over again I'd
probably have taken Spanish in high school. A lot more people
speak Spanish than German, and my limited abilities in Spanish
are far more useful, as I'm dealing with my own students, than
is my semi-fluency in German. (The Bosnian kids got a kick out
of speaking German with me, but that's been about the extent of
it.) Still, I'm one of the few teachers who DOES teach them to
conjugate verbs and diagram sentences, and my comfort level on
that planet is directly related to the discipline instilled in
me back in German class.

Not everybody's going to study English in college, either, but
my required courses included History of the English Language
and Middle-English Chaucer. Studying German ahead of time
bought me extra hours of sleep, and sleep is like gold in college.

Our district doesn't offer German classes. Other languages
take priority, and I'm not sure that's unreasonable. I'm very
grateful to have had the opportunity to study German, but
sadly, I'm not sure German classes have sufficient mainstream
appeal to be universally available when budget cuts are the
rule of the day.

I wish you luck, though. Hell, German's way more practical
than French, imho.

On 3/30/09, Pat wrote:
> Our school has decided to phase out German from the
> curriculum. Instead virtual Chinese and Arabic will be
> taught in the middle and high school levels along with
> Spanish. In PA there are minimal language requirements for
> school districts, and they are within the requirements. I
> have been asked to find rationale as to why we need to keep
> the German program. If you have any sites that will lead me
> to information or can give me any rationale that you may
> have needed in your own districts, please help me to save
> our German program. Thank you in advance.

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