US: "over the course of the last ten to fifteen years, French enrollments have declined dramatically"

Evlyn Gould, University of Oregon:

There is nothing new in pointing out that over the course of the last ten to fifteen years, French enrollments have declined dramatically while enrollments in Spanish have soared. This may be especially true in the West where the shift from French to Spanish is motivated by several factors. At worst, there is instrumental economic thinking (ie.: "Spanish is more likely to get me a job."). Better, there is a kind of ethical belief that all Americans should speak Spanish. Best, or at the most intellectually challenging, we may note an uneasy sense that there is something fundamentally wrong with privileging European ideas in Humanities' curricula on American campuses today.

http://www.langlab.wayne.edu/CStivale/NCFS/NCFS2001.html