The Future of German in American Education: A Summary Report

During the past academic year the AATG has sponsored a project whose theme had been the focus of professional events for some years and which, more recently, attracted renewed interest and urgency, Future of German in American Education. Building on the momentum gained at a number of specific events (e.g., the October 1994 Vanderbilt Symposium whose published proceedings are now available, the 1994 AATG conference in Atlanta, and two open fora at the August 1995 IDV/AATG meeting in Stanford), but, more importantly, on a general awareness that there are matters the profession can no longer ignore, the AATG decided to formalize the deliberations over a oneyear period. The result was a series of regional invited fora, held at Anaheim during the national conference (Nov. 19, 1995), at Washington University, St. Louis (March 2-3, 1996), and at Georgetown University (May 4-5, 1996), and an open session conducted in conjunction with the MLA meeting in Chicago (Dec. 29, 1995). Each forum was attended by approximately twenty colleagues who were representative of different levels of instruction and diverse educational environments. In each case, five designated attendees highlighted issues in one of the following areas: undergraduate, graduate, and institutional administrative matters, teacher education, and the articulated curriculum K-16. Their opening thoughts provided the basis for stimulating discussion by the entire group.