By Carina Christo Foreign Language, one of the most valuable skills in modern America is still not being taken seriously by many schools. Despite its numerous benefits, most high schools across the country only require students to study a language for two years. Because of this, foreign language tends to be viewed differently by students when they realize it's optional and treat it as an easy A rather than a lifelong skill.
In fact, foreign language learning is one of the only subjects that directly helps everyone involved even when the student is in high school. The student can make friends from different backgrounds more easily, travel, and be a more impressive job applicant, no matter what field they apply to. The student can also help others around them if they don't understand something, a small gesture that means a lot. And, the reputation of the schools with four year language requirement would go up, as being bilingual helps with college admissions, and there are even correlations between language learning and higher SAT scores. A 1981 study from the ERIC database states that, foreign language study in high school has a positive effect on verbal ability on the SAT, adding “students who study foreign language for longer periods of time will do better on various SAT subtests and on the SAT-Verbal as a whole than students who have studied less foreign language.” The longer a student spends learning a language the less it becomes about just grammar, but rather the culture as well. The US has by far the most immigrants in comparison to any other nation, making up over 15% of the population. Additionally, the most recent United States Census Bureau American Community Survey stated that over 1 in 5 Americans speak another language at home. This diversity is something to celebrate in our schools whether in a district with much or little of it. Another study from the Journal of Experimental Education concluded that by studying another language students literally became less racist. Specifically the study states, “The experimental group had significantly more positive attitudes toward the Spanish-speaking peoples they had studied about than did the group that had not studied Spanish.” While some may ask themselves “when am I ever going to use this?” or not have interest in the subject, now more than ever it is a skill growing just as important as math, english, science or history. It’s something that can be used daily to help others, look good on a resume and gain knowledge on other cultures. Even now, in my own minimum wage job at a snack shack on the beach I find myself using Spanish to communicate with the tourists there. I wish I knew French or Mandarin too because of the diverse English language learning customers who come every single day. As a tutor for kids from Boston public schools it becomes even more evident how helpful it is to let parents know how their kids are doing with their schoolwork or even directly get kids who speak another language at home to understand what they’re learning. From what I’ve seen among my peers, because language is optional by Junior year it is looked at like an elective- an easy A or a filler. The requirement would gain more respect to teachers and improve the overall attitude to the subject. It would finally be taken with earnest intent and used in the real world to be a positive community member and improve our own cognitive ability. Foreign language shouldn’t just be an extra. It’s vital.
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