WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages

[Anonymous]

It's too bad they can't instead cut the bloated administrative positions, rather than academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.

Even if that language is English ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's too bad they can't instead cut the bloated administrative positions, rather than academics.

+1

[Anonymous]

The way they speak in WV is a foreign language. How is this possible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.

You do if you want to be competitive for a job in a global economy where Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin etc are differentiators for prospective employers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way they speak in WV is a foreign language. How is this possible?

Unoriginal and unintelligent response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way they speak in WV is a foreign language. How is this possible?

Unoriginal and unintelligent response.

LOL. hit a nerve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.

Nobody pays a shit ton to attend WVU. Hopefully they'll still offer the classes outside of a major because a flagship not even offering languages would make them a joke.


"The university offered a lengthier explanation for why it is nixing its seven language programs, in areas like Chinese, French and German. It said student interest in the programs “is very low and declining. The institution is also considering eliminating language requirements for all majors.”

As an academic, I can tell you that it sounds like a lot of bureaucrats who don't really know much about education made these rules. (My understanding is that outside consultants who also apparently don't really value education were brought in as well.)

Of particular concern is the statement that "students will have access to a language learning app if they still want to learn the foreign language." I guess I'm old-fashioned and idealistic enough to still believe that learning a language isn't just about repeating some phrases to an AI and having it correct your pronunciation. I was fortunate enough to read poetry and newspapers in a foreign language while in high school and college, and to develop an understanding of how language and literature from a particular culture is both reflective of that culture's mindset and how it helps to shape that mindset. I actually cared about things like what sorts of metaphors people used, what kinds of jokes they told. I went on to serve in the foreign service where I performed tasks like talking to editors and newspaper reporters, reading editorials in the native language. I don't think that someone trained on an app could have done this as well. I currently work with military students and there's a lot of emphasis on perhaps undrestanding the mindset of the Chinese if we are to someday go to war with China. Again, I'm not sure you can get all that from Rosetta Stone.

[Anonymous]

The demographic cliff is coming, and some institutions will not survive. Some will be skeletal versions of themselves.

A real university should have courses in the Humanities, of course. I say this as a research scientist! It looks like a lot a lesser-known, regional institutions will just become professional conduits for entry-level STEM careers.

[Anonymous]

Funny you all calling it a flagship. That’s not a thing in most states. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny you all calling it a flagship. That’s not a thing in most states. Really.

it is in West Virginia, though.

Sad that the state's top academic institution is self-gutting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A dozen majors recommended to be axed are undergraduate-level, while 20 are graduate-level majors. The university said the proposed cuts would represent a total of 434 students, or 2% of its total enrollment.

There are 169 potential reductions in faculty, or 7% of the total in Morgantown, WVU said in a news release.

This part says it all. 169 faculty members to support the majors of just 434 students. These were not popular majors, but you have overhead to run a department, thus leading to a crazy It's a wise place to cut. 1:2.5 faculty-student ratio, compared to 1:18 WVU-wide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny you all calling it a flagship. That’s not a thing in most states. Really.

Disagree. Generally it’s the land grant university— pretty much every state has a flagship university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A dozen majors recommended to be axed are undergraduate-level, while 20 are graduate-level majors. The university said the proposed cuts would represent a total of 434 students, or 2% of its total enrollment.

There are 169 potential reductions in faculty, or 7% of the total in Morgantown, WVU said in a news release.

This part says it all. 169 faculty members to support the majors of just 434 students. These were not popular majors, but you have overhead to run a department, thus leading to a crazy It's a wise place to cut. 1:2.5 faculty-student ratio, compared to 1:18 WVU-wide.

But faculty reductions could happen vs wholesale program elimination. A real lesson in academic provincialism. Gut the humanities, no foreign language study? Absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's too bad they can't instead cut the bloated administrative positions, rather than academics.

+1

+1000