Should foreign language be a required to graduate high school?

[Chad2000k]

Should foreign language be a required class to graduate high school??? Its one of those things that older people say you need to succeed in the "job" world... If you think about it, have you guys ever taken such a course in high school? I mean you could, but was it required at all to get into college or to either graduate and finally get out of high school. Nowadays it seems they are pushing us (students) to the limits. They make it required but for real, 99% of us forget about it and its just not worth takin in the first place because this is an english-speaking country, and the last time i checked i'll be going to an english speaking college which i'm willing to pay so much for just to get a degree and get a job. What does everyone think??? Employers are more than welcome to reply....

 

[Hobbit]

Should foreign language be a required class to graduate high school??? Its one of those things that older people say you need to succeed in the "job" world... If you think about it, have you guys ever taken such a course in high school? I mean you could, but was it required at all to get into college or to either graduate and finally get out of high school. Nowadays it seems they are pushing us (students) to the limits. They make it required but for real, 99% of us forget about it and its just not worth takin in the first place because this is an english-speaking country, and the last time i checked i'll be going to an english speaking college which i'm willing to pay so much for just to get a degree and get a job. What does everyone think??? Employers are more than welcome to reply....

I a global marketplace, knowing at least one foreign language is a virtue, as it smoothes relations with foreign clients. Learning another language also helps to understand your own. The problem is not that it's required, but when it's taught. By high school, most people have firmly rooted themselves in their primary language. However, younger brains are more...malleable in the ways of language. If foreign languages were taught in elementary school, they could be taught faster and more thoroughly, and they would be more likely to retain that knowledge, with high school level courses being more like high school level English courses, concentrating on the subtleties of the language rather than basic syntax and vocabulary.

 

[GotZoom]

I say yes.

I say you can't learn too much in school. Keep the mind busy.

 

[MissileMan]

I'm going to say Yes, the children of immigrants, both legal and illegal, should be required to learn English, a language foreign to them, before they can graduate from an American school.

 

[Gunny]

I'm going to say Yes, the children of immigrants, both legal and illegal, should be required to learn English, a language foreign to them, before they can graduate from an American school.

Damn. I voted "no" before I read your post.

I don't think US persons who speak English as a primary language should be required to learn a second one. While it can only enhance one's credentials, I don't feel something like this should be compulsory.

Some people really suck at foreign languages, btw.

 

[manu1959]

yes

two years worth

 

[Chad2000k]

I a global marketplace, knowing at least one foreign language is a virtue, as it smoothes relations with foreign clients. Learning another language also helps to understand your own. The problem is not that it's required, but when it's taught. By high school, most people have firmly rooted themselves in their primary language.

Yes, on the contary although if you are working at an inner country job that doesnt require foreign language, then thats the whole point of not wasting a whole year or maybe two years when it could help us academically in another area.

However, younger brains are more...malleable in the ways of language. If foreign languages were taught in elementary school, they could be taught faster and more thoroughly, and they would be more likely to retain that knowledge, with high school level courses being more like high school level English courses, concentrating on the subtleties of the language rather than basic syntax and vocabulary.

Thats true as well, but why prepare for something that may not happen in the future. So its like preparing ourselves for a nuclear attack from anywhere, possibly al-quadea, in the end the u.s. government will stop and protect us and so its like a waste of time...

 

[Chad2000k]

I'm going to say Yes, the children of immigrants, both legal and illegal, should be required to learn English, a language foreign to them, before they can graduate from an American school.

Good point, i never thought of it being that way.

 

[USViking]

No, because we are already doing a lousy job
teaching children the read and write English.

And even if we were doing a good job, I think
foreign languages should be entirely elective.

Some people, such as me, are just no damn good
at learning foreign languages, and they should be
allowed to focus in areas where they are more skilled.

I took Latin and French throughout junior and
senior high, and I never could read a paragraph
of any but the simplest prose. It was a complete
waste of a lot of time.

 

[Chad2000k]

No, because we are already doing a lousy job
teaching children the read and write English.

And even if we were doing a good job, I think
foreign languages should be entirely elective.

Some people, such as me, are just no damn good
at learning foreign languages, and they should be
allowed to focus in areas where they are more skilled.

I took Latin and French throughout junior and
senior high, and I never could read a paragraph
of any but the simplest prose. It was a complete
waste of a lot of time.

Yeah thanx USViking, the money we spend on foreign language is better to be spent on learning english more effiecently so that we all have a base language rather than changin our language just because we have sooo many mexican immigrants coming into the country, the mexicans should learn our language so that way they can get a job and whatnot in america where our forefathers have spoken english since the time of the 13 colonies.

 

[Annie]

I think at least two years, preferably 4. At the same time, I will say that being deaf I have not been able to ever study a language to the point where I can speak it fluently. I have been able to read quite abit of both French and Spanish, so not a waste by any means.

 

[Shattered]

The most I know is a dozen or so words from probably 4 different languages.. If I'd have been forced to learn them, I'd have failed. I have no patience for it, and far more enjoyed other classes. I live here, I have no intention of moving to another country. However, I believe that legal/illegal immigrants should be required to learn English if they're going to live here.

 

[GotZoom]

It isn't necessarily about using the language at a later date. It's about mental discipline and also, like Hobbit pointed out, it makes you understand your own language better.

When I was in school, we had to have two years of a foreign language. I took Spanish through junior high school. Then High School. I never used it in more than a social level.

Once I moved to Italy, knowing Spanish allowed me to become fluent in Italian in less than 6 months.

Knowing Spanish also made me more aware of how the English language worked. This made my English/Business double major in college possible.

 

[5stringJeff]

I say yes, every high school graduate should have at least one year of a foreign language.

 

[5stringJeff]

I'm going to say Yes, the children of immigrants, both legal and illegal, should be required to learn English, a language foreign to them, before they can graduate from an American school.

Totally agree on that point.

What about those of us who are not children of immigrants?

 

[007]

No. It should be a choice, not a demand, even though I think it's a good idea to take a foriegn language.

If you're born in America, grow up in America, educated in America, and live and work your life in America, there shouldn't ever be a NEED for you to know a foriegn language.

 

[Shattered]

No. It should be a choice, not a demand, even though I think it's a good idea to take a foriegn language.

If you're born in America, grow up in America, educated in America, and live and work your life in America, there shouldn't ever be a NEED for you to know a foriegn language.

Now now.. There's a couple words in a couple different languages that I'm GLAD I know. I <i>*needed*</i> to know them a couple times.

But I still believe it should be elective in most cases...

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Learning a foreign language can actually improve your English skills, particularly if you take Latin or Greek, and probably Spanish/Italian, French, and German as well. When you begin to see words have the same construction between two different languages, you increase your English ability. Plus, the days of only working with American customers are fleeting.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Now now.. There's a couple words in a couple different languages that I'm GLAD I know. I <i>*needed*</i> to know them a couple times.

But I still believe it should be elective in most cases...

Yeah... I took Spanish in high school, and hated it until one day, while I was working at the mall, two normal-looking women who spoke perfect english to me started talking in Spanish amongst themselves about the fake check they were going to pay with. They were quiet, but assumed the big white kid who had been bringing them shoes to try on couldn't speak Spanish. Turns out they were wrong

Learning a language opens doors, and if they could replace trivial shit like phys-ed with foreign language, I think it'd be a great idea.

 

[Hobbit]

Yeah... I took Spanish in high school, and hated it until one day, while I was working at the mall, two normal-looking women who spoke perfect english to me started talking in Spanish amongst themselves about the fake check they were going to pay with. They were quiet, but assumed the big white kid who had been bringing them shoes to try on couldn't speak Spanish. Turns out they were wrong

Learning a language opens doors, and if they could replace trivial shit like phys-ed with foreign language, I think it'd be a great idea.

Yeah, I know that feeling. I once heard two people behind talking about me in the student union. About mid-conversation, I busted into their conversation with "That's just rude!" The whole thing was in Mandarin Chinese. Bet they never saw that coming.