Stop cutting back on foreign language programs: The importance of a foreign language

Question

I was just surfing the Internet recently, and one link led to another. I soon came across this story. Story

This made me really upset, so I went on Google, and typed in "Cutting back on foreign language" and stumbled across this story.

Why? I don't understand. A foreign language is going to the be the thing that helps kids be successful in any profession. Why take that away from them?

Fortunately, many of these stories say Spanish is still being taught, but the other languages (example: German) are being cut.

Sure, I guess they can just learn in high school, but...agh, why deny younger kids the ability to learn a language?

This one person left a very insightful comment on this site:

I just wish that all people involved in schools could realize that foreign languages are going to be unbelievably important to the success of future generations.

I'm lucky enough to have been taught Spanish in grammar school, and I'm fortunate enough to continue learning Spanish as I continue my education.

Knowing more than one language makes you an interesting person, allows more career opportunities, allows you to meet many more people, boosts your confidence, and introduces you to new cultures.

Sorry for my little rant. I just wanted to state my opinion. I hope you liked it, jaja

Answer 1

Sun Smile, you have to look at this from the point of view of the school system to understand it.

The USA used to have a high level school system many years ago - we not talking about universities here - that now has disintegrated to a system that simply pushes kids through even though they are still illiterate. So since they can´t effectively communicate in their native language, why should they be given a foreign language to study?

Fortunately, this doesn´t happen in all US schools, but it´s pretty much the norm in the inner-city schools.

Oh, wow, I never thought of it that way, Julian. Thanks for pointing that out - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 8, 2011

I know, it´s very sad - 005faa61, Jul 8, 2011

This works both ways. While taking classes to get my teaching credential many of the textbooks advocated teaching recent immigrants in their native language. The problem is, most of those students are illiterate in their native language, as well. - KevinB, Jul 8, 2011

I read Brave New World recently and, this is a clichéd Idea I know, but it made me think maybe we're letting kids fall through the cracks intentionally because we need "gammas" and "epsilons". (People to do the dirty work) It's a horrible, inhuman idea. - rabbitwho, Jul 9, 2011

Answer 2

Where I live (California) tens of thousands of teachers have been laid off in the last couple of years. I was seriously considering switching from engineering to teaching high school physics. Both my daughters are in credential programs to become teachers. It breaks my heart to think that my graduate school and their entire college career has been a complete waste of time and money. There are no jobs for teachers. You can't even get a job as a substitute teacher because the laid off teachers get first dibs on the day labor sub jobs that pay $100 a day.

Languages? What about science, music, art? What about just basic reading, writing and arithmetic? We are witnessing the collapse of public education in the United States. It's never, ever been this bad, and it's not going to get any better while we allow politicians to continue cutting school budgets to pay for their pork barrels.

Very insightful answer. It's a shame that teachers cannot find jobs in these times. - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 8, 2011