After an overwhelmingly negative experience in her Spanish classes at Boston College, Sophia Fee, MCAS ’27, decided to finish her language requirement in a summer class at the University of Rhode Island.
The rigid structure of the courses, driven by teachers who have to focus more on rules than engagement with their students, drove Fee away from BC’s Spanish program.
Her experience is not unique.
BC’s Spanish program is micromanaged, creating tense classroom environments and, ultimately, worse student experiences. The program needs to let its teachers teach—if they don’t, there’s no way for its students to thrive.
Over 850 students enroll in Spanish classes through the department of romance languages and literatures (RLL) every semester. In serving such a large block of students, the program focuses on making course curriculum and grading standards uniform across all sections. But in doing so, it stops professors from tailoring courses to suit their pedagogical strengths.
The RLL chair and program coordinators decide the curriculum based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ national standards. The department determines the grading policies and rubrics, but the coordinators determine the standard syllabi for each level of the class and enforce the policies.
We agree that students should expect the same quality of instruction, regardless of their professor. Problems arise, however, when the strict enforcement of these rules demotivates teachers and leads to low student morale. The Spanish program must work to strike a balance between ensuring uniformity and building a healthy learning environment.
A former Spanish professor said teachers felt excessively supervised, which led them to manage and grade students more harshly than they would have otherwise.
“We had no freedom, couldn’t possibly question, and couldn’t teach or grade anything without having to explain ourselves,” the former professor said.
Students are often the victims of the stress put on their professors.
The former professor found that in order to award a high participation grade to a student, they would have to be prepared to justify their decision to the department.
Even hearing a student speak English once during a multi-week participation period would affect their grade. This is just one example of an unrealistic expectation that frustrates teachers and students alike.
“Teachers have to check every single thing on the rubric to find ways of not giving students a really high grade,” the former professor said.
This rigidity of classroom instruction is perhaps unsurprising if you consider the rigidity within the Spanish program itself.
The former professor said suggestions as simple as subtly rephrasing an exam question were extensively challenged at course team meetings.
“With time, some professors just decided to stop suggesting things because we knew that it was not going to change or it was going to become something bigger,” the former professor said.
This is not all to say the Spanish program is plainly authoritarian—they encourage student feedback.
“If they don’t come to me, then I can’t do anything about it,” said Franco Mormando, RLL department chair. “I’m always very eager to have feedback from students.”
While listening to students is essential, the Spanish program should reframe its philosophy to welcome and engage with constructive criticism from teachers as well.
Unfortunately, the Spanish program has yet to welcome this discourse.
It is crucial that program administrators empower professors and trust their abilities, not regulate them into futility. After all, professors are the ones who bring the language to life for their students.
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