Caveat Emptor: The Report of the President's Commission

Abstract

tion of the resolutions of the Joint National Committee for Languages into the final of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, Leon I. Twarog appears to have reflected the prevailing reaction to the report: the omission of the words 'foreign language' in many sections of the Report, I must conclude that we, as a profession, have been treated fairly. The Commission Report has given us virtually everything (and more) that our professional associations requested.1 Twarog goes even farther, claiming that, despite its the Commission is the best thing that has ever happened to foreign languages and international studies. In scope and content it is much more important than the impetus given to language study and international studies by the NDEA (p. 310). A careful reading of the suggests that this claim is only half correct: there certainly can be no doubt that the is the best thing that has ever happened to international studies. Despite its lavish praise of the principle of foreign language study, however, the thrust of the report, both in specific recommendations and in proposed funding of programs, is aimed toward developing programs in international studies, which may or may not have any foreign language component. Therein lies a potential threat to foreign languages, for the study of foreign languages could easily become only a minor supportive discipline within the field of international studies. In using the phrases despite the omission of the words 'foreign language' in many sections of the report and despite its shortcomings, Twarog implicitly acknowledges a potential peril to foreign languages, but he apparently assumes that it will not be realized. He notes