Goutham Seshadri '03

German language study will terminate following the 2003-2004 school year. The phasing out of the program has already commenced with the elimination of the first-year German class. Next year, only German III and German IV will be taught, allowing students who started taking German in the 200 1-2002 school year to complete their three-year language requirement before the program ends.

Declining German enrollment over the last few years is the primary cause of the program's end. While twenty-five students were enrolled in German last year, only fifteen are enrolled this year. According to German teacher Sabine Mauri, this number of students is not enough to justify the continued existence of the program.

While the average lower-level Spanish or French class size is about 14 students, the average German class size is about 4 students. Mrs. Mauri stated that such numbers are incompatible with the idea of a balanced classroom for all language students. She also stated that the current German program is "not an economically feasible use of teachers." As the school's only German teacher, Mrs. Mauri teaches 15 students as opposed to other language teachers, many of whom teach upwards of 50 students.

The final decision to end the German program came this June after German course sign-ups for the 2002-2003 school year were complete. While German at Deerfield never had the popularity of languages such as French and Spanish, it was better supported than it is at present. Though the number of students enrolled in German each year rarely exceeded 40, there were enough students to justify the existence of the program.

According to Mrs. Mauri, it was always assumed that the program would end when enrollment dipped below 20 students. When that finally happened this past summer, a group of Deerfield staff members, including Dean of Faculty Richard Bonanno and Language Department Chair Cristophe de Bord decided to terminate the program with the final approval of Headmaster Eric Widmer.

This decision comes amidst a national decline in German class enrollment. According to Mrs. Mauri, "Nationally, German programs have lost about 40,000 students over the last six years." Mrs. Mauri, who will stay at Deerfield as a French teacher, said she is "sad to see German phased out."

German student Gordon Hutchins '03 said, "The German program must be revived. It is a very important business language, and it is going to become more popular with the Euro. I am sad to see it go."

German is only the latest class to be cut from Deerfield's language program. The Russian program was also abandoned after the 1995-1996 school year due to lack of student sign-ups for the class.