Should foreign language be a required to graduate high school?

[The ClayTaurus]

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.

Where did you learn mandarin?

 

[Mr. P]

Where did you learn mandarin?

Bubbas Chinese Buffet, of course! Geeezzzzzz :funnyface

 

[Hagbard Celine]

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.

I think there will be a need in the coming century since hispanics are now the largest and fasted growing "minority" in North America. I would go so far as to say they should teach kids Spanish starting in elementary school.

 

[Hobbit]

Where did you learn mandarin?

Zai xueyuan.

 

[Mr. P]

I think there will be a need in the coming century since hispanics are now the largest and fasted growing "minority" in North America. I would go so far as to say they should teach kids Spanish starting in elementary school.

They already have, or did, see the future need years ago. When I was in grade school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (early 60s), when Cuba was sending waves of refugees to Miami we had ½ hr or so of Spanish a few times a week. I still remember a few words. On the other hand, I had Latin in HS and pretty much remember nothing. Elementary school is the place to start.

 

[no1tovote4]

There are several reasons to require it, in my opinion. Not the least of which is the fact that those who are bilingual or know even more languages are less likely to suffer severe depression as teens that causes so many of our young to commit suicide.

I have fun talking with my younguns in ASL (American Sign Language), but they never really caught on to Russian, I have high hopes for that later.

I would prefer language to be introduced much younger than in High School when many have already lost the real ability to absorb a language in full.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Zai xueyuan.

I don't know what that means.

 

[Annie]

There are several reasons to require it, in my opinion. Not the least of which is the fact that those who are bilingual or know even more languages are less likely to suffer severe depression as teens that causes so many of our young to commit suicide.

I have fun talking with my younguns in ASL (American Sign Language), but they never really caught on to Russian, I have high hopes for that later.

I would prefer language to be introduced much younger than in High School when many have already lost the real ability to absorb a language in full.

Yep we are lucky at our school, Spanish begins in kindergarten. I wish though that instead it was Latin, the kids would still pick up Spanish, but also easily Italian, French and even Greece.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Yep we are lucky at our school, Spanish begins in kindergarten. I wish though that instead it was Latin, the kids would still pick up Spanish, but also easily Italian, French and even Greece.

Not to mention vast improvement in English as well.

 

[Annie]

Not to mention vast improvement in English as well.

Agreed.

 

[Mr.Conley]

I grudingly took Mandarin for 7 years just to catch someone insult me once. And when it finally happened... oh that was a good day. Foreign devils are filthy and stupid my ass.

And that is why I support learning a forgein language.

 

[USViking]

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.

I took both Latin and French for six years,
and doing so did not improve my skills in
either of them, or in English, one iota.

And as I mentioned earlier, we are now
doing such a poor job in English that as
a practical matter it makes no sense at all
to impose foreign language requirements
as well.

How can a student not incompetent in his
own language possibly be expected to do
any better in a foreign language?

We should attain a true literacy rate of
at least 90% in English before we even
consider requiring literacy in another.

 

[USViking]

I grudingly took Mandarin for 7 years just to catch someone insult me once. And when it finally happened... oh that was a good day. Foreign devils are filthy and stupid my ass.

And that is why I support learning a forgein language.

If someone wants to take a foreign language
on the chance that after seven years they
might be able to pick up a few swear words,
fine, but I fail to see how that can be grounds
for requiring anyone else to do likewise.

 

[GotZoom]

I took both Latin and French for six years,
and doing so did not improve my skills in
either of them, or in English, one iota.

And as I mentioned earlier, we are now
doing such a poor job in English that as
a practical matter it makes no sense at all
to impose foreign language requirements
as well.

How can a student not incompetent in his
own language possibly be expected to do
any better in a foreign language?

We should attain a true literacy rate of
at least 90% in English before we even
consider requiring literacy in another.

Requiring a student to learn a foreign language will not negatively effect his ability to learn anything else in school.

The problem in our schools today isn't what they are learning or not learning. It is the attention of the parents...or lack thereof... in regards to what the children are doing while in school and with their schoolwork.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

I took both Latin and French for six years,
and doing so did not improve my skills in
either of them, or in English, one iota.

And as I mentioned earlier, we are now
doing such a poor job in English that as
a practical matter it makes no sense at all
to impose foreign language requirements
as well.

How can a student not incompetent in his
own language possibly be expected to do
any better in a foreign language?

We should attain a true literacy rate of
at least 90% in English before we even
consider requiring literacy in another.

I would argue that taking Latin most certainly improved you English abilities, unless you took everything you learned and sealed it up in a vacuum bag...

 

[USViking]

I would argue that taking Latin most certainly improved you English abilities, unless you took everything you learned and sealed it up in a vacuum bag...

I am in a better position than you to know
if Latin helped me in any way, and I can
tell you it did not.

I simply have no aptitude for learning other
languages. The amount I learned would fit
a very small bag indeed.

 

[theHawk]

I voted no....

I have a degree in a foreign language and I have studied a half dozen different languages at one point or another. Personally I love studying languages but I really do not think it should be a "requirement" in our high schools. There are some poeple out there who just cannot learn certain languages. And just because a person cannot learn a certain language, does not mean they are stupid or they cannot learn any foreign languages at all. One person may not be able to be any good at all in Russian, but may excel in Persian Farsi. In order for high schools to really fairly accomodate for everyone would be to provide many different options ranging from Romance languages to slovic, Asian and more....you get the drift. This is just not feasible in our high schools. Most will only teach Spanish, French, and German. If we really want our students to learn foreign languages they need to start teaching them at very young ages. Elementary school kids can learn a new language much easier than teenager or adults. I think foreign language should be highly encouraged, starting in grade school, but I do not think anyone should be denied the right to graduate if they can't or just don't want to learn another language.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

I am in a better position than you to know
if Latin helped me in any way, and I can
tell you it did not.

I simply have no aptitude for learning other
languages. The amount I learned would fit
a very small bag indeed.

How much Latin did you take?

 

[USViking]

Requiring a student to learn a foreign language will not negatively effect his ability to learn anything else in school.

As I keep saying, there are some people, like me,
who can not learn a foreign language.

Therefore the time wasted on trying certainly does
negatively affect their ability to learn other subjects:
The more time available to learn anything the greater
your ability to master it, provided you are capable of
mastery to begin with.

The problem in our schools today isn't what they are learning or not learning.

Yes it is the problem

It is the attention of the parents...or lack thereof... in regards to what the children are doing while in school and with their schoolwork.

I agree this is the main reason for the problem.

It is not part of the solution to impose subjects of
secondary importance, such as other languages,
which draw time away from subjects of primary
importance, such as English.

 

[USViking]

How much Latin did you take?

Six years of both Latin and French, as I
mentioned in post #32 only about a half
hour ago, in a post you quoted yourself.