Keeping Deutsch Alive
Saturday schools promoting German language studies in the U.S. need more support – By Walter Pfaeffle
The vital role of Saturday schools is not fully recognized in the U.S. They lack financial support for their survival in a country where more than 40 million people are of German descent.
Henry Bareiss would rather play soccer than attend German classes on Saturdays. But the 15-year-old high school student from Stamford, Connecticut has been doing just that since kindergarten. So has his sister Isabel, 11. Another sister, 20-year-old Charlotte, is now a junior at Georgetown University where she studies German and Chinese.
The Bareiss children are like hundreds of other kids of German heritage who each Saturday troop to German class held at the Rippowam Middle School. Bareiss’s father Conrad says, “When they get older, they will begin to realize the value of knowing another language.”
His wife Annette is a director and fundraiser for the German School of Connecticut (GSC). They met in Germany where Conrad’s father Walter was born into a family of textile manufacturers.
A New Yorker who grew up in Germany, Bareiss frequently takes Annette and the children back to Germany. Annette and fellow-Connecticut resident Renate Ludanyi, GSC’s founder and current president, are the driving force behind this national grassroots movement that requires many hours of hard work without pay.
GSC has an enrollment of about 350 students out of a total of 1,200 German language students in Connecticut. They are divided between the Stamford and Hartford branches. The majority of the children come from German families. Others are of Swiss or Austrian origin. The school offers German as a second language as well as an advanced curriculum for native German speakers to prepare for the German university system.
In the 2000 census, the number of Americans reporting German ancestry was nearly 43 million, the highest tally of any ethnic group. With so many people of German heritage, one would assume that German is widely taught at America’s high schools.
But in fact only 16 of the 50 states require foreign language credits for graduation, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Many don’t even offer language courses in their public schools.
“That is a real problem,” said Ludanyi, a historical linguist. She is encouraged, however, by recent legislation allowing education boards in Connecticut to award high school credits for achievement in private foreign language study.
“What is important is the outcome of the state’s current discussions of whether foreign language study should be made mandatory,” Ludanyi said. “If it doesn’t become a requirement, the legislation is less important for us.”
Most of the 50 schools across America sprung up after World War II. The need for cooperation led to the establishment of the German Language School Conference (GLSC) in 1978. With Ludanyi as president, the group helps establish new schools, offers a forum for exchanges and promotes German-American understanding.
Financing is a problem. Because the school charges only $650 per year tuition, it depends on private contributions and volunteer work. Only teachers get paid. Parents help out during school hours.
Annette Bareiss raises money from major corporations with headquarters in Connecticut. She says German companies are reluctant to finance the schools, seeing it as the task of the government. “It’s almost easier to get money from an American company,” she said.
The German government contributes “10 percent or less” to the annual budget. Ludanyi admits she wouldn’t mind a little more help. “I don’t think that the German government is fully aware of the significance of private German language schools in this country,” she said. She also complains about the lack of coordination between the private schools and the partnership schools promoted and funded by the German government: “The partnership schools are great,” she said. “What isn’t so great is that they are in the vicinity of our private schools, so it would be helpful if they worked with us for the common good.”
GSC’s advertising budget is a puny $2,000 per year. “We should do more advertising because most people don’t even know we exist,” said Ludanyi.
Urs Klarer is responsible for advertising and PR. A Swiss citizen who works for UBS in Stamford, all four of his kids are enrolled in the school.
Money isn’t everything. Another problem is the shortage of qualified teachers. “We can’t bring them in from Germany because they wouldn’t earn enough to support themselves and so wouldn’t qualify for visas,” said Ludanyi.
The Chinese community gets help from a two-decades old government program that sends teachers all over the world to propagate Mandarin.
The ACTFL estimates that 50,000 American elementary and secondary school students are currently learning Chinese, up from only 5,000 in a survey taken in 2000. “If we don’t promote the Saturday schools, German in America will slowly disappear,” warned Ludanyi.
Picture above: Thank you for learning German.