The student newspaper of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies www.saisobserver.org Monday, Oct. 26, 2015
Vol. 18, Issue 3
SAIS Europe Elects New SGA for 2015-16 Academic Year By Ana Vasudevan and Kady Hammer SAIS Observer
BOLOGNA, Italy — On September 30, the SAIS Europe student body elected its new Student Government Association representatives. Polls closed at midnight, determining the fate and the future of this year’s student leadership. Of the 13 SGA candidates, the following five were selected: Joaquim Miguel Pereira Mendes, Portugal; Elisa Bettelli, Italy; Christian Maximilian Stadler, Germany; Riccardo Alfieri, Italy; and Himmat Singh Sandhu, India. According to the SAIS SGA election guidelines, the candidate with the highest number of votes, in this case Mendes, serves as President with the other four elected representatives covering external relations, financial matters, internal relations, and academic services. The five elected SGA members have ushered in a number of firsts. Previous elections adopted a traditional approach with formal speeches given in the auditorium. However, this year’s election utilized social media platforms to make the election more accessible and to better represent the personalities of individual candidates. The combination of the elevated use of social media platforms and YouTube campaign videos resulted 169 votes cast out of the 212 SAIS Europe students. Mendes’ campaign video alone has reach 518 views to date,
See BOLOGNA, page 3
Photo courtesy of Elisa Bettelli
The newly elected SAIS Europe Student Government Association is the first to be composed entirely of non-American students. (L to R: Elisa Bettelli, Italy; President Miguel Mendes, Portugal; Riccardo Alfieri, Italy; Himmat Singh Sandu, India; Max Stadler, Germany)
SAIS Students Address Lack of Foreign Language Education in U.S. Primary Schools By Kaj Malden SAIS Observer
WASHINGTON — Many SAIS students have already lived or traveled abroad prior to beginning their graduate coursework, and many have a strong foundation in a foreign language from their college years. In some cases, students use their time at SAIS to begin learning a second or third foreign language. As emerging professionals in international affairs, SAIS students appreciate the role cross-cultural and cross-linguistic communication plays in shaping international dialogues. For those outside the ivory towers of DC’s policy schools, however, the urgency may be less apparent. Less than 1 percent of Americans today are proficient in a foreign language that they learned in a classroom setting. In February 2015, the
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Modern Language Association (MLA) released a report indicating that enrollment in language programs at the college level in the U.S. declined, dropping to 7 percent in 2013. In the summer following the release of the report, foreign language education advocates gathered in congressional conference rooms in Washington to push for prioritization of foreign language education among college students. This was followed by a flurry of op-eds in US news media that addressed the demise of foreign language offerings at the college level. Foreign language instruction provides immense benefits to U.S. college graduates who enter an increasingly globalized economy. While English may be the lingua franca of the business and policy worlds, American graduates must compete with candidates from other countries
who have not only taken the time to learn English, but know other languages as well. This is especially true in Europe, where foreign language study is compulsory in many countries. In China, students begin studying English during primary school and must continue to do so through their first year of college. If American graduates want to compete and successfully interact in a globalized job market, it may not be enough to just speak English. While the MLA report and its accompanying news coverage reminds us of the importance of foreign language instruction at the college level, there has been comparatively little discussion concerning foreign language instruction for younger learners. Many studies have shown that the children’s neurology is more receptive to foreign language acquisition. Humans make use of two memory
systems: declarative memory and procedural memory. The former activates when you recall facts or knowledge, and thus is always developing. The procedural system, however, develops early in life as a foundation upon which the declarative system processes knowledge. Children under the age of seven pick up new languages more easily because they make use of their still-developing procedural memory system to do so. Adults, whose procedural memory system is already established, will make use of declarative memory systems to learn foreign languages. The cognitive approaches to language learning are fundamentally different for children versus adults. Thus, it may make more sense to direct U.S. educators’ attention towards primary
See YDOGE, page 6
Mid-Autumn Festival
TPP and China
Halloween
HNC marks Chinese festival with party of its own
Professor Adam Webb discusses Chinese reaction to trade pact
Check out the events happening around Washington, D.C. this week
Campus News // page 3
Faculty & Experts // page 4
Around Town// page 8