In a July 13th column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution online, Phil McKnight, Professor of German and Chairman of the Ivan Allen College School of Modern Languages, rebutted assertions made by a previous guest columnist who questioned the utility of Georgia students learning French.

Foreign Languages Enhance Creative Thinking
by Phil McKnight

Jim Motter wrote recently that his son will not qualify to use German in the International Plan at Georgia Tech and that while Spanish, Mandarin, Latin and German are desirable languages in high school, French "is a waste of time."

All languages we teach at Tech have a vital place in the curriculum, which focuses on developing effective intercultural communication skills, a positive attitude toward cultural identity differences and the ability to articulate global aspects of emerging intercultural and international challenges like climate change, immigration and technology.

A new generation of students has expressed a strong desire to become more globally aware and competent. Even without a formal foreign language requirement, our enrollments have more than doubled recently as we have integrated foreign language study into a broad interdisciplinary configuration to respond to student demand.

As a result: A staggering 20 percent of undergraduates are enrolled in foreign languages, compared to just 8.6 percent for all U.S. colleges.