Americans Need to Have a Foreign Language Requirement During Compulsory Education

Having been a composition teacher in local colleges and universities for the past three years, I have participated in many online and in-person conversations among employers and teachers that corroborate the experiences I’ve had with a number of my students. The fact is that America’s public education system is on the decline. Grades are inflated, and requirements have been reduced to the point that students are under-prepared both for college, for the workforce, and even for real life. I’m sure you have heard this point of view, but I’m not writing just to complain but to provide a piece of the solution. While many of the ideas toward solutions that seem to find their way to implementation have some sense—focus on math and science, and hurting both teachers and students through by having teachers teach answers to mandatory tests—these efforts only treat some of the symptoms and will not provide long-term results. Having required foreign language classes in our public school system, however, would help our students improve their intelligence, and better prepare them for the workforce and for a broader real world than many of the intelligent Americans by whom high standards have been set in the past.

Although I would not dictate that we only require Spanish, the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. would lend significant support to the argument. Certainly if a language were required, many students would choose Spanish, recognizing the improved job potential this would bring to them. Additionally, more Spanish speaking Americans would mean more help for these immigrants to integrate socially and to find work. Thus both the natural-born Americans and the immigrants would improve their work opportunities as students broaden their understanding of the culture and language of this growing segment of our population.

However, as noted, I would not make Spanish the requirement because Americans would greatly benefit from a wider range of language abilities.  For one, as with the situation with Spanish, work opportunities abound for speakers of Arabic, French, Japanese, Chinese, and many other languages. And this need will only increase in years to come. The jobs of interpreters and translators, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are “expected to grow 42 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations.”  Plus, jobs that involve some translating have some perks. According to Salary.com, “Language differentials typically range between 5 and 20 percent per hour more than the base rate.” These statistics seem to hint quite loudly that America needs more speakers of foreign languages. Furthermore, because I worked in the Foreign Service Institute of the State Department for nearly five years (2002-2007), the first field of jobs that actually comes to my mind in regard to need for foreign language speakers is that of foreign diplomacy. We will always need highly qualified workers in our embassies and consulates, as well as in our DC offices, particularly those with language skills.

But while the economic interests are quite compelling, they are not the only reason. Our public employees are not the only diplomats who will influence our public relations. American tourists have a strong need of cultural sensitization to ensure and improve our ties with all nations.  Many Americans enjoy traveling, but while most may tend to stay within the U.S. for their vacations, many still have business or family-related needs to travel abroad as well as a desire to see both natural wonders and cultural phenomena in exotic locales. And these wander lusters need to be able to communicate and appreciate aspects of their hosts’ cultures other than the art that originally drew them there. I have heard too many stories of property destruction and other utter rudeness. For example, recently an ignorant American, who, as Matt Peckham reports in Time, “wasn’t drunk, being belligerent…or whatever other wild imagery your brain might conjure” vandalized the 600-year-old “Annunciazione” in Florence, Italy. Peckham goes on to say, “The reportedly 55-year-old Missouri native was simply trying to measure the statue’s pinky finger.” While the man might not have needed to speak Italian to know better, if he had learned from his youth to appreciate other cultures, such as through mandatory foreign language learning, I would think he might have learned some other rules of cultural etiquette in the process. In fact, in a 2007 NEA report “The Benefits of Second Language Study”, they quote Helena Curtain and Carol Ann Dahlberg in their 2004 Languages and Children: Making the

Match: New Languages for Young Learners, Grades K-8, saying,  “(E)xposure to a foreign language serves as a means of helping children to intercultural competence. The awareness of a global community can be enhanced when children have the opportunity to experience involvement with another culture through a foreign language.” Clearly the studies of language and culture do go hand in hand.

But even among the somewhat cultural savvy of the tourists, there still exists an enormous error in thought—that Europeans all speak English.  According to a 2005 report by the European Commission, although English is the most common foreign language learned on their continent, only 34% of Europeans claim to speak it with any degree of fluency. Of course the percentage might be higher in the capitals and other metropolitan centers, particularly at famous museums and the like where they will have hired or trained personnel who can cater to tourists’ language needs. I would definitely not, however, expect many of the pedestrians to speak English, nor all shop owners or train station attendants.  And even if they did, the utter egotism of expecting that people will want to speak in our language in their country does not help America’s international relations.  Culture sensitization that comes from language learning, in addition to the benefit of actually learning the desired languages, will help even if a student does not travel to a country where he or she speaks the particular language.

And curiously enough, in addition to the natural cultural knowledge that accompanies language learning, general intelligence also increases. Studies do show that learning a foreign language will make students smarter. In the article, “Why Bilinguals Are Smarter” from the New York Times, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee says, “The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment.”  Then later, he adds, “In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa [from the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain] and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it.” If students are required to learn a foreign language while they are still in their formative years, we can certainly imagine how they will be benefited by becoming more efficient at monitoring their environment—from noticing cultural norms to performing job-related multi-tasking, to simple improving their traffic behavior. Everyone will benefit from this requirement.

But wait, there’s more! In the 2007 NEA report noted earlier, they summarize the College Board’s 2004 findings saying that “Students who completed at least four years of foreign-language study scored more than 100 points higher on each section of the SAT than students who took a half year or less.” Since test scores are of such importance to our current education system, this seems highly significant. But speaking to the broader reason for these scores—that we want intelligent students, not just those who know test answers, the NEA also reports that “Strong evidence shows that time spent on foreign language study strongly reinforces the core subject areas of reading, English language literacy, social studies and math. Foreign language learners consistently outperform control groups in core subject areas on standardized tests, often significantly.” Considering the knowledge I have seen students bring to my college English classrooms, I know they could benefit from improvements not only in language literacy but in social studies as well. I have had too many college students who admitted to thinking Abraham Lincoln was our nation’s first president, let alone not knowing anything more about George Washington than that he had white hair (that he wore a wig was even a surprise to them). They need these improvements in their education. This kind of ignorance simply cannot continue.

If you’re still not convinced of our need for foreign language literacy, let’s take a look at Europe, a greater community of multi-linguists and one whose culture is somewhat similar to ours. Although we are not as closely geographically connected to as many countries as are the countries in Europe, we can still learn some things from their trends and policies regarding foreign languages. For example, many Europeans learn not just one but at least two foreign languages. A 2009 Eurostat report indicates that “60% of students in upper secondary education study two or more foreign languages.” For business reasons, this makes perfect sense due to their proximity to other countries as well as the cooperative ties associated with the European Union. Of course we don’t have the number of foreign-speaking countries bordering us as most European countries, it does seem important that we remain competitive with them as we also conduct business with these countries.

But there is a somewhat stronger appeal. Even those Europeans who don’t go into business benefit from their multilingual background because they are better able to understand and to communicate as they travel.  For example, while some people might not have decided to go into business, their spouses might have, leading to their need to relocate abroad.  Additionally, some countries have seen economic downturns and wars that force many of their citizens out. In all of these situations, having multiple languages under their belts would be a tremendous advantage. So again, while it is true that we are not Europe--we have seen difficult economic times, but not sufficient to send too many out of the country; we have had wars, but most have been fought on foreign soil—couples do unite with different backgrounds and needs for relocation. But more importantly, while yes, we have been blessed with much peace and security, can we guarantee this will always be the case?

Since the studies and statistics have made it apparent that foreign language learning will benefit Americans in our economy, our international relations, and our general intelligence, I fail to see any further justification for not requiring that our students learn a foreign language during their compulsory education. Our workforce demands it, our international relations demand it, and our people as a whole cannot continue to thrive without it.