Dimantha Andrahennady ’14: Over the last few years, the Modern Language Department has seen growing success and increased diversity in its curriculum, especially with the recent addition of Mandarin Chinese. Despite the inherent difficulty of the language, the Mandarin program has grown to 37 students across five levels of courses. As Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world and China is becoming an increasingly prominent country in business and politics, Mandarin was introduced to keep students in line with global trends. In light of Mandarin’s success, the Modern Language Department should consider offering more languages, particularly Arabic, which has become progressively more important in international affairs.
Arabic, the official language of twenty-nine different countries and the language of Islam, is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world. It is also one of the official languages of the United Nations. In the midst of American dependence on Middle Eastern oil and increasing tensions in the Middle East, the need for Arabic-speaking Americans has surged. Because they are in such high demand, speakers of Arabic can easily find jobs in a variety of fields including journalism, business, finance, banking, education, interpretation, translation, consulting, foreign services and intelligence.
However, despite this new window of opportunity and the increasing importance of Arabic on an international level, schools across the United States have failed to keep up with the demand.
According to Dr. Cathy Hall, Episcopal’s Academic Dean, the school surveyed parents eight years ago concerning what additional language the school should introduce to its curriculum, and the parents chose Mandarin Chinese. When asked whether the school would eventually add more languages, Hall stated, “Yes, the school will be responsive to a changing world and program needs.”
Marc Eripret, Chair of the Modern Language Department, voiced the same opinion, and added, “Arabic would be the most logical choice [if the school decided to introduce another language], as there is a growing demand for Arabic speakers in the government and the military.
Arabic, if introduced, would be noticeably different from the languages already instituted at the school. As the language is part of a completely different family of languages than Spanish, French, or Mandarin, its addition would diversify the schools curriculum and bring unique opportunities to the student body.
Moreover, many public schools offer Arabic so Episcopal has a blueprint to work with for its own Arabic program. Schools such as Radnor High School have instituted German and even Italian. Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School have incorporated Japanese. These language programs reflect some sort of global pertinence and are models on which Episcopal can base its Arabic program.
Moreover, the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) of the Department of Education in 2010 provided funding for school districts that “support projects that establish, improve or expand foreign language learning…that exclusively taught one or more of the following…languages: Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and languages in the Indic, Iranian, and Turkic language families.”
Therefore, it would not be extremely difficult for Episcopal to fund the addition of Arabic. As a school that prides itself on diversity and opportunity, Episcopal would be doing its students a disservice by not giving them every resource possible to keep pace with a rapidly evolving world.
After the success of Mandarin just several years ago, Arabic could become another success and a diversifying element in the modern language curriculum. Episcopal should certainly consider reevaluating its curriculum to bolster its program with more pertinent languages.
As the Middle East becomes more important in international affairs, the United States will need to depend on a small number of Arabic-speaking citizens to improve its relations with Arabic-speaking countries. By introducing Arabic, Episcopal could enter into the forefront of this changing global scene. Failing to do so would jeopardize the global perspective Episcopal strives to maintain.

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