Dead language returns
Mandy Carnes
Issue date: 12/4/03 Section: News
Students will have an additional foreign language opportunity next year.
Elementary Hebrew I and Elementary Hebrew II will be offered in consecutive semesters after a two-year absence from campus.
The University decided to stop offering the courses because of a decline in enrollment.
"We had very low enrollment, especially in the spring semesters, with numbers going down into the single digits," said Heinz Woehlk, head of the language and literature division.
He said enrollment for the Hebrew classes was high the first couple of years it was offered, but it dropped because students who initially were interested in the classes already had taken them.
"Enrollment had been fairly good for a course like that, but after a couple of years, the clientele on campus had had Hebrew," Woehlk said.
The courses now will be offered every two or three years, depending on when other nontraditional, nonwestern languages are offered, Woehlk said.
He said he expects enrollment in the Hebrew class to increase next year.
"It's been a couple of years since the last time we offered Hebrew, and that means a couple years of additional students who might be interested," Woehlk said. "I have a good feeling about the enrollment possibilities this time around."
Junior Phil Brown, who took both Elementary Hebrew I and II, said he thinks it is important to offer the classes again.
"We learn so much about where we come from by learning the language," Brown said.
He said the courses also may be a selling point to incoming students.
"There are not a lot of universities that offer it," Brown said. "I plan on going to seminary, and it's good to get a head start."
Woehlk said Truman's classic and modern language program is unique in the state of Missouri and makes the University attractive to prospective students.
"We offer language opportunities for students here, I'm fairly certain, beyond any other university on the undergraduate level in Missouri," Woehlk said. "It's part of the culture here at Truman that is supported and encouraged."