Colleges Should Require Applicants To Study A Foreign Language In High School

“Language is power. If you cannot understand or be understood you have no power. You are at the mercy of everyone.” – (Rudat, 1994, Stow, Dodd 356) Should Americans be required to learn Spanish as a second language? The construction of our nation stands on documents written in English, however English is not our official language nor has it ever been. America is a “melting pot” in which English is the most prominent language, followed closely by Spanish. Requiring Americans to learn Spanish is a great controversy; I strongly believe that it should be a requirement, because it improves academic achievements, career success, and cultural and social understanding. The controversy has great counter arguments such as the double standard Americans are held to, and further division of the country. Regarding the counterarguments, I still firmly believe that it should be a requirement because the integration of a second language in our schools is more beneficial to our country’s success as a whole.

It is a challenge to provide important information about specific cultures without the appearances of stereotyping and many educational programs are focused on helping learners to understand how to communicate with individuals from other cultures or with beliefs and experiences that are different from their own. (Fetters, 2005, p. 1307)

Learning a foreign language can be beneficial in future settings and handy when it comes to global presence when well educated, but very difficult processing and learning especially at an older age. Foreign language classes should not be mandatory while in college because there is lack of time, it should depend on individual interest, and because many believe it is a waste of time.

The United States is a melting pot of all different groups of people, cultures, beliefs, yearnings, hopes, and languages. The Census Bureau released data from the 2013 American Community Survey, that showed the number of people who speak a language other than English at home reached an all-time high of 61.8 million, 20%, up 2.2 million since 2010. The largest languages in the United States were Spanish with 38.4 million, Chinese with 3 million, Tagalog with 1.6 million, Vietnamese with 1.4 million, French with 1.3 million and Korean and Arabic with 1.1 million each (Owen); however, 75% of Americans have no second language, according to a Yougov survey, and nearly 56% of americans feel it’s unnecessary to know a second language unless it’s basic knowledge for vacations, if it’s a major world language, or because they think most people around the world can speak english. Learning a foreign language is much more than just that, and although it’s highly unlikely, learning a foreign language should be mandatory in the united states. We are constantly putting pressure on immigrants who can’t speak english to learn english, however, we never turn the page and force ourselves to adapt to their language as well.

Bilingual in the eyes of society seem to be more intelligent and better educated, and with a higher social status. Therefore, in the world, multilingual people are more often sought after in the labor market. The participant also confirms this assumption, said "bilingual people have more job opportunities and usually more financial offers in work". Thanks to the knowledge more than one language, bilingual people offer more extensive opportunities in terms of their duties, for example, unexpected translation. In the United States, the request for multilingual people has changed over the years, causing disturbances in the smooth development of multilingualism. However, along with the development of technology and international trade American employers increasingly need to employ multilingual people despite that, Americans use the most universal language in the world – English. For my interlocutor, bilingualism was also an advantage in finding a job. Because she is fluency in Polish and English, it enabled her to take up work as a medical insurance assistance. Every day, she helps people explaining complexities of insurance in both languages, depending on the need. Maintaining the first language gave her the opportunity to take a quiet job for a good salary and not requiring excessive physical effort. According to 2006 Census data, the demand for bilingual employees in The United States is constantly growing.

When looking around the community one lives in, it is easy to see just a single large culture. If a person was to examine their community they might find many different cultural groups within the superior one. Some of those cultures that are easily overlooked include the deaf community, whiteness and military living. Educating one’s self will allow them to be accepting and caring for others through understanding.

Right now imagine yourself in your future job. More than likely people will encounter a person speaking something besides their native tongue. So will you be prepared as of right now? Nowadays there is a growing need for translators and other jobs that require a different language other than English. Demands for bilingual workers have doubled in the past five years and it is now one of the highest requests when applying for a job opportunity in the US. The Army, NYPD, and the State Department all can’t get enough workers with this job skill. A second language should be mandatory in American schools because it makes employees more marketable, creates social interaction with different cultures, and increases cognitive skills.

The United States is known throughout the world as the “melting pot of cultures.” This is evident through the daily social and cultural interactions of diversified population of New Yorkers. For instance, Queens County is one of the most diverse counties in the world, versus just the United States. Accordingly, since I began attending Vaughn College, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to be exposed to a variety of cultures from friends and classmates.

A survey done by the Center for Applied Linguistics in 2008 found that "The findings indicate a serious disconnect between the national call to educate world citizens with high-level language skills and the current state of foreign language instruction in schools across the country"(Cal:Research). This is concerning as all of the competition for the U.S. is gaining a step and we 're doing nothing . If the U.S. expects to continue to be competitive in the global market we need to have bilingual citizens. In order to ensure this, we must require a foreign language be learned in high school.

U.S. public high schools should offer a Latin as a foreign language program because the benefits for students’ education will outweigh the cost. Most high schools at least offer Spanish and French, which makes sense since the US’ bordering countries are Spanish speaking Mexico and French speaking Canada (at least partially). One reason to add Latin to the current language options is because it continues to influence living languages even though it is considered a dead language. Because of this, through Latin, students will be able to understand English and other languages better. More than half of the English vocabulary is derived from Latin [1], and if students were taught even minimal skills in the Latin language, it could improve spelling and usage skills among many other good results.

In Today’s world, countries are connecting and learning another language is essential for the growth of the United States. Many countries including China, France, and Germany require every student to show proficiency in at least one other language. Public schools should teach a foreign language starting in kindergarten because it increases potential of being employed, increase cognitive abilities, and delays the onset of disease that causes memory loss such as Alzheimer.

The United States is first in imports and second in exports, where in 2015, 2.16 trillion dollars’ worth of products were imported into the country, and 1.38 trillion dollars’ of American products were exported (Simones). Even in the United States knowing a foreign language can give an individual many experiences that only knowing English cannot provide. One can imagine walking through Manhattan neighborhoods, where Spanish can be heard from the Dominican barrio of Washington Heights, or Mandarin from the vibrant Chinatown. The experience would be completely different for a monolingual person compared to a bilingual or trilingual person. Three possible solutions to improve world language education in the United States is to offer more foreign languages to teach, such as Arabic or Chinese, require three or four years to graduate from high school and be admitted into a college or trade school, and to teach foreign

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

Whether one is confronted by international or non-native English speaking clients or customers, the years of Spanish or other foreign languages studied in high school can shine through, impressing whomever one is confronting. An approach to the four-year foreign language policy should not be to avoid taking it again in college, but rather to better oneself. It is no secret that the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not implement a national foreign language requirement. According to the 2006 General Social Survey, it stated: “Only 25% of American adults self-report speaking a language other than English.” (qtd. in Devlin). In countries such as Germany, Italy, and France, the numbers are more than double of the percentage, revealing a shocking contrast how much the US

Everyone in America has had to learn a second language in order to obtain a high school diploma, however this ‘learning’ of a language is merely a short class that does little to tie one down to a second language. There are few students who continue to seek more and more knowledge about their intended language. Some lose interest, while others make excuses by saying that it is too hard. However, learning more than one language has so many benefits that it is mind boggling to me that more people like to remain monolingual. Obviously time and resources are a concern, but there are so many ways to learn a language that can be catered to one’s individual needs. Think about all of the people in our nation whose first language is not English.