Rumors circulate about foreign exchange
December, 2017
For senior Michael Murphy, the AP Spanish exchange is more than just a mini vacation during senior year. Murphy, who hopes to one day become a bilingual doctor, has high hopes to expand his knowledge and his love of the Spanish culture during the trip.
Current political developments, however, have made Murphy uneasy after hearing rumors about the program’s possible cancellation.
Although such rumors have made students like Murphy worry about missing this opportunity, Social Science Division Head Gary Judson confirmed that these rumors have no merit, stating that this year is no different than any of the previous years in terms of the program’s continuation.
However, he thinks the rumors of the exchange program’s cancellation may have started with the tension in western Europe.
According to the Human Rights Watch and BBC news, the Catalan regional government agreed to meet to discuss independence from Spain on Sept. 6, 2017. However, Spain’s central government challenged the independence meeting to the Constitutional court, which resulted in the court declaring the meeting unconstitutional. On Oct. 1, 2017 the Catalan parliament voted to break away from Spain and become a separate country.
This has led to many acts of violence and protests around the provinces of Girona and Barcelona.
Similarly, the French government has been confronting threats to national security. According to Real Time news, France started a terrorism alert in January of 2015, officially ending the state of emergency in November 2017. In addition, following civil protests against a change in French labor laws in 2016, demonstrations took place in September 2017 against the country's new labor codes introduced by the newly elected President Emmanuel Macron.
According to Judson, there are three exchange programs involved with languages available at Prospect. These programs exchange between Sèvres, France, Verona, Italy and Barcelona, Spain. This fall, students from these cities visited Prospect, while students from Prospect will be traveling to their respective cities during Spring break, with about 15 to 20 students involved per program.
Despite the tension happening around the exchange cities, Judson stresses that there are no extra precautions because the programs have always been cautious and prepared. He also says that unless something occurred to endanger students, such as “instability in the areas,” he does not foresee the exchanges being cancelled.
“The fact that [the exchange students] have visited [Prospect], and everything is good; we feel good to go,” Judson said.
Judson also feels that, since Prospect has good relations with their exchange correspondents, the organizers would tell administration if there was something to worry about. In addition, Judson has not received any complaints or concerns from parents, stating that they are supportive of the exchange and always have the option of not sending their child .
According to Spanish teacher Mike Aldworth, the exchange programs have been taking place for about 15 years. He says the French exchange has been around the longest, since the start of the program, because Mount Prospect is sister cities with Sèvres. On top of that, the Italian exchange has been around for about 11 years, and the Spanish exchange is about to celebrate eight years.
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According to Aldworth, the District 214 Board of Education pushed back their meeting to determine if the exchanges were to continue or be cancelled. Instead of being held in November, the meeting was pushed to December, which Aldworth believes is not related to the events in Europe. He also says that, having talked to some of the Spanish teachers who came to Prospect through the exchange, the events in Barcelona are not to be concerned about. Like Judson, Aldworth stresses that student safety is their first concern.
According to French teacher Jenna Sandstead, the exchanges are a huge part of the world language programs.
“[The exchange] allows [students] to have real life experience with the language and travel,” Sandstead said.
Much like Aldworth and Judson, Sanstead also expects no problems when approving the exchanges. Sandstead says that political instability in Paris did not stop previous exchanges, so she believes the events in Barcelona will be no different.
“Truly, the only difference is that the [approval] meeting is a month later,” Sandstead said. “From our [teachers’ and administration’s] perspective, it is no different than any other year, so our philosophy is you can’t tell the future. We are in preparations – flights are booked – we are taking the normal steps to have successful exchanges, as every year has been.”
In an interview conducted through email, senior Hanna Walker, who is involved with the Spanish exchange, said she would feel safe traveling to Barcelona despite the events because her exchange partner from Barcelona lives there and says that the situation is not that bad. Walker also says that she loves learning about other places, especially in Spain, and wants to learn what it is like to live in a different country. She is also excited to meet her partner’s family and experience her daily life.
Both Walker and Murphy have been following the events taking place in Barcelona but recognize the exchange program as a great cultural experience.
“One of the things District 214 wants to teach students is to become global citizens,” Aldworth siad. “We really want to make students aware of the world outside of Prospect High School and the very comfortable neighborhoods of Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights. I think that is what AP classes do, specifically language classes. We bring up and we talk about some challenging things that students might not think about. I think it is part of our jobs as teachers to have [students] think about the world outside of here.”
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