Should High School Students be Required to Take a Foreign Language? In the past high school students were not given the option to take a foreign language, the school did not even have a foreign language class that could be taken. In today’s world high school students are making the decision of taking a foreign language. Taking a foreign language in high school is an option and is not forced in many states, however, in many states colleges require a foreign language to graduate. So, what are high school students to do? Does taking a language in high school relate to today's world? High school students should be required to take a foreign language for college and for future job opportunities. A foreign language is required for many colleges. Most colleges in Iowa, along with many more states, all across America, require that college students have at least two years of a foreign language before they graduate, so if students do not take a foreign language in high school they will have to take it in college. According to the 2017 College Board for the United States of America, many colleges require a minimum of two years of study of a single foreign language; also many colleges see that a foreign language shows that the students is stretching beyond the basics of high school (“High School Classes Colleges Look For”). With the requirement to have a foreign language both required by the state and by the college it is getting harder and harder for college students not to have a
In the New York Times, Room for Debate article. The first debater is against mandating foreign language classes as a requirement in college because she believes language cannot be taught well in a classroom setting. Instead, it is better obtained through experience to understand the whole language in natural form by practicing it and using it on a day to day bases as a form to communicate and not treated as an assignment. As for the second debater, she believes learning a new foreign language can be essential, but not ideal especially as a college student. She further supports her claim by mentioning in college the student should ultimately decide if he or she would like to take a foreign language class while studying for their decided degree. In contrast, the last debater sees the question in a positive light. She believes that taking a foreign language class in college is beneficial and necessary for the future of the working class individual. She claims that obtaining the knowledge of another language is what will get the student
The United States is becoming more and more bilingual every day. It is important for students of the United States of America to keep up with the advancing world. The easiest way to learn a second language is when a person is young. This is why it would be beneficial for schools to start teaching a foreign language in kindergarten and continuing it through twelfth grade. Students are more likely to learn and remember a foreign language if they are introduced to it at a young age. A majority of other countries teach foreign languages to their students throughout their school lives. Most students coming out of high school in other countries are totally
What is your first language? Do you remember your first words? How about learning to pronounce or spell words of your first language? Would you ever learn a foreign language because it sounds like a lot of work. Today some students are required to learn another language. However all students in the US shouldn't have to be required. Some reasons may include students never using the language, not learning another language would free up time, and students may not learn as much as people think. This is why students in the US shouldn't have to be required to learn another language.
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.
Americans have hidden behind the excuse that everybody important knows English for too long. The United States is the only country in the world where a student can graduate from college without ever having learned a foreign language. Most countries start foreign language instruction at ten years of age or younger. It is time we did something ourselves and stopped letting everyone else do the work. One credit of foreign language instruction should be required in order for graduation from high school in Laramie County School District Number One.
The author, Melinda D. Anderson, sheds light on a growing problem in America. Today, thousands of students are experiencing difficulties when trying to earn an education because of the language barriers that prohibit them. Additionally, educators are ignoring this dilemma and making matters worse by enforcing English-only policies. The author believes that educators should discover a way to intertwine languages in order to help struggling students to overcome their language barriers.
One reason why Spanish should be a necessity in schools, is that many schools require students to take a language already. Saying this, throughout the entire country, budgets are being cut in the language departments in schools. Many schools do not even have a German, or a French program accessible to children as an option. “Most high schools offer several years of foreign language– most are typically Spanish, Sometimes Spanish classes are mandatory, other times they are electives–but you should take advantage of these courses” (Fernandez.) Furthermore, requirement is so incredibly vital to college applications these days “Many colleges require a certain number of years of a foreign language before you can be admitted–or if you lack that, you’ll be required to take several foreign language courses once you attend their
In “language study as a National Imperative, “Colleen Flaherty writes about the language education of the in the U.S. She explains the report, which was written by the American Academy of Arts and sciences (AAAS). The Article was published in Inside Higher Education on February. The Reports explain that foreign language must be required in the school system starting in kindergarten. The Academy of Arts and Sciences or the AAAS believes that Second languages should be required it opens up more opportunities for getting a better job in the future. And also understand the other better like none English Speakers. AAAS also believes it could help economic growth and competitiveness. Flaherty also says the language learner will build a good Skill and improvement with other people around them. According to AAAS Report strongly emphasizes work with schools to promote language classes. Also In the report it says that the government should help teacher’s education and increase the more opportunities.
Spanish shouldn't be required in school. Being forced to learn a foreign language is a disgrace to being an American. Most high school graduates enter careers that don't require the ability to speak anything more than English. Spanish is irrelevant. High School students should be able to take Spanish as an high school elective class, not being forced into taking it.
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.
“One of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time”, Federico Fellini once stated that “A different language is a different vision of life” and I, in my turn tend to say that he was perfectly right. A person who speaks more than one language can experience multiple personalities, visions and reflections consisting which language is he speaking. High School students should comprehend the real benefit of speaking a foreign language. Being a multilingual myself and speaking fluently four languages and studying another two, I consider that I am qualified enough to persuade that my argument is strong, plausible and not ultimately-right. In the following paragraphs I am going to address the following three reasons why should other High School students learn at least one foreign language? Firstly, learning a new language enhances performances in the academic domain and makes you smarter. Secondly, knowing a new language is a high estimated and a very valuable characteristic in your professional CV. Thirdly, international travel is more pleasant through knowing a foreign language.
I must disagree with a person who says this. English builds a foundation for every class you ever need to take. Say you get into University for a program such as Architecture, many people would think they wouldn’t use the skills they learned in English in a program like this. This is where those people are wrong. Architecture, like every other program in University, uses textbooks. Without the vocabulary you learned in English, you wouldn’t be able to comprehend what this University textbook said. There’s also many essays and assignments that require you to use extensive language and proper grammar in order for you to receive a high grade.
Finding jobs should be relatively easy to get by knowing Spanish. Imagine not needing to pay a translator to guide you throughout your vacation. When you’re able to communicate with people that doesn’t speak English, it truly is satisfying. Learning Spanish is a superb way to advance your tuition and academics. Students taking a Spanish class should be compulsory by cause of it supports you in your career, it’s neat exercise to the human brain, and vacationing around the world would be much more simple.
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.
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