What are the language requirements in Spanish speaking school systems?
I started wondering about this when I realized that most of the Spanish speakers on this web site are much more fluent in English than the English speakers are in Spanish. So, I'm curious to know what the language requirements are in school in Spanish speaking countries.
In the United States, at least where I live, younger teenagers are given the chance to take Spanish or French. When they reach high school, some school districts have other language courses such as German. However, at no time is there a requirement for graduation that says that you have to take a foreign language. At the college level it differs from school to school. Normally, if you get a bachelor of art degree you are required to take 6 hours of a language, but with a science or business degree you are not.
I believe that this is a very poor system. With the increase in Spanish people in the U.S., I believe that all children should be required to take Spanish in school (the younger the better.)
Please tell me how Spanish speaking schools are with their language requirements.
12 Answers
Unless you go to a bilingual school, like a liceo colombo-británico or colombo-alemán, the foreign language, almost certainly English, taught at schools is not that good, I'd say lousy. It's got a lot more to do with the influence of US in all flieds of everydayd life in the rest of the world, espacially the assimiliation of US popular culture into our own, you'de be amazed at the amount of followers Kim Kardashian has around here. Learning Enlgish today helps you gorw even further you professional prospects, especially true if your line of work is business/banking. It's useful fo many of us to speak English nowadays.
Many English speakers argue the rest of the world should learn English, but the fact the rest of us are more likey to speak it is a drawback for them. If you liek to watch tennis, for example, you'll see players from UK, US or Australia are far less likely to speak another language.
I believe that this is a very poor system. With the increase in Spanish people in the U.S., I believe that all children should be required to take Spanish in school (the younger the better.)
I agree with you! And not only another language requirement - most Europeans grow up speaking at least 3 languages - but US school children, who feel entitled to everything, should be required to live in a third-world country at least 6 months to see what real life is all about.
The state school system in the US (1-12) has already been shown to be a very poor system, especially with each year having a lower scale for graduating. Standards of education are constantly being lowered to match the standards of the kids, rather than vice versa.
The higher education system in the US is very good, but very expensive and out of reach for many people, so it's only the rich and a handful of scholarship recipients who get to have an education these days.
what Annie said is right, Spanish is an important language, not for the fact that Spanish-speaking countries are very powerful or anuthing like that but by the sheer number of speakers it has, I mean one can drive from northern Mexico to southern Argentina, some 10000 kilometres and almost 350 million people without having to switch your language, that makes us less likely to learn a foreign language, more than what US influence on us would lead us to think.
As for compulsory learning of foreign languages, I think many of us didn't want to become mathematicians or engineers and I had no issue with taking maths from grade 1 in primary school until graduating from secondary/high school, never thought of it as being forced upon me, any dencent education system should teach foreign languages and cultures, but that's just my opinion.
I agree with you. Children should be required to take Spanish the earlier the better.
This country has a lot more Spanish speaking people in it than 10 years ago and the number continues to grow. It definitely should be a requirement. 
Well here in Mexico (BCS) a lot of children take extracurricular English classes. It is not offered in the public schools very often. There is a thriving industry of private schools teaching English here. But still I would say that less than 5% of the Mexicans speak English at any level and 1% or 2% above a beginners level. Its just not needed on a day to day basis.
I come from Sweden.
We're obliged to learn English from an early age, bearing in mind we start school rather late , and are none the worse for that! . Later we can add two more languages. When I was young these were usually German/ French and/or Spanish.
Nowadays they are Mandarin and Russian, I believe.
Sadly the entire Eastern block of Europe are not taught foreign languages ( at least not in state schools) . We have many immigrants and these rarely speak much English, although many learn very quickly.
As for the French and the Spanish learning other languages, well, dream on. Some do, but your average 15 yearold European is not fluent in many languages, I can tell you that, unless they come from Holland, Scandinavia or some other small country.
In England most children don't start learning a second language until high school (age 11/12), which is too late to be able to learn a new language easily - whereas in many other countries I know that second languages are often taught at a much younger age when children are a lot more susceptible to language, and take it in a lot easier.
Then by the age of 14 children can decide if they want to carry on studying their second language and unfortunately the majority don't,
In Colombia you will find some elementary institutions (1st - 5th) that are offering English as a second language classes but it is not by law. In High school (6th-11th), everybody (Private and public) must take at least another language classes besides Spanish. In pubic schools it is English. You do not have a choice! However, as a student, you will get as good in English as you want to. Every grade has a level of difficulty but only if you press to learn it and not just memorize for the tests, you will be able to get some knowledge out of it. I did it! I was not able to speak English when I came to the U.S., but once I started learning the language here, all the knowledge I've learned there, made sense and help me move very quickly through my ESL classes here.
- A side note, In Colombia age doesn't dictate what grade you are in, but the amount of knowledge you have.
In mexico, depending where you go, the school system is strict.
Learning mathematics and learning a foreign language is far and away totally different things. I mean, for that matter, you shouldn't have to learn complex grammar if you're not gonna be writing books or something, but we take English year after year. Science also. The point is, what is a decent education system? Students drop out of school left and right.. as well as just NOT learning as they should, and I honestly don't feel that "forcing" one to learn a foreign language can do anything to help that. I'd be glad if people learned properly their FIRST language.
Meanwhile, foreign language is already mandatory but it is NOT taught well, making it in essence a waste of study hours. I think people should have to have two+ years of "sit down and read a book."
Meanwhile if you're talking about "shear numbers" there are more speakers of Mandarin-Chinese. So is it about "shear number" or "proximity" ? Then again, that would make the reference to South American countries irrelevant. This topic is really sketchy, but I feel that any decent education system should EDUCATE, and that is already an issue in America. People aren't learning good English (the national language by practice) let alone something else.
In Chile, children in elementary and intermediate school are required to take 1.5 chronological hours of English a week, in public schools. If they go to a private school, they may be required to take more, but no less.
The English education level in public schools is low. I went to one, and in English we hardly got to "do/does" sentences, and we learned almost no grammar. Less than 2% of Chileans can speak in English.
The English teaching industry makes tens of millions of dollars in profit every year.
Since the dictatorship of Pinochet, education is viewed strictly as a business, and that paradigm wasn't changed by the democratic goverments that followed. Morgan Friedman had a great influence here.
The public education system is the default option, if you can't afford something better. That's why you may have seen some student demonstrations on the news this and last year, because a great number of people are trying to change that model of education.
As a side note, common Chilean people almost has no knowledge of English, and there is a paradoxical tendency to use phrases and words in English in advertising. It's really snobbish.
Learning mathematics and learning a foreign language is far in away totally different things. I mean, for that matter, you shouldn't have to learn complex grammar if you're not gonna be writing books or something, but we take English year after year
So is it about "shear number" or "proximity" ? Then again, that would make the reference to South American countries irrelevan
You're making my point, differential equations are of no use for me right now, but I'm glad I was taught what they are; and i meant sheer not shear and the issuw those sheer numbers pose for us; I never said Americans should learn Spanish cause of proximity or any such thing, I addressed tha importance of Spanish for being the second most spoken native language in a interconnected world, and of learning about foreign peoples
