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By students, I mean anyone in the educational system. However, I know that this debate topic is quite popular concerning the elementary and high school levels of education.
Should students learn a foreign language?
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I don't believe it should be required. There is no point in learning a language if the person isn't fully into it. What's the point of learning a language that you won't be fluent in? The only people who really know how to speak a language fluently is those that have parents who don't speak English because they have to and those who are language majors or whatever.
If they want to, the option should be open. Spanish and Latin are fundamental languages that are good to know- the high Spanish-speaking population in the US justifies it, and Latin is needed for scientific names, etc.
I'm not sure about the situation in the States but in the UK a foreign language is compulsory from the age of 11- usually French. I did both French and German. Now if the issue is do we *need* to learn a foreign language then, strictly speaking, the answer is no. That is, if you believe students should only be taught the very bare basics needed to function in society.
But as a key to broadening our horizons a foreign language is indespensable. And as education is, in great part, about broadening our horizons I believe yes, all students should learn a foreign language.
Language is compulsory in the US too I believe- if you want the credit, anyway. XD I think they only do it in Middle school-high school though. I've never been to public school though, so I'm not sure.
It wasn't compulsory in public schools when I went, but it was highly recommended (read: required) if you were going to college. The principle advantage is the different conceptual thinking that it requires, not the actual language itself.
I found the majority of spoken language courses to be a waste of time. They teach tend to Catalan Spanish for example, which isn't the variety widely spoken by Mexican immigrants. They usually teach Parisian French and the most likely source of French speakers Americans would encounter are from Quebec. In other words the reading of another language was possibly useful, and that is great if you're reading a menu or getting directions off a street sign. But was almost useless if you wanted to talk to other human beings using their language and culture. Most of my friends who took Spanish and are fluent in it now didn't really learn it until they traveled to Central America or Spain and were immersed.
Probably good enough to go back to Latin to help with science and philosophy and allow people to take other languages as they wish. We should probably be offering Chinese (usually Mandarin for spoken dialects, but reading Chinese writing would be good start. I'd rather have learned math in Chinese personally) or even Arabic more broadly before college as well.
Foreign languages are best taught during the first years of schooling as at that age we seem to be able to pick up conversational foreign languages much easier. However, it should never be mandatory.
If they taught Chinese in schools, I'd soo be going for it. Or Arabic. Two of my favorite languages/types to see or hear in the world!
It would definitely be more beneficial and make our students well-rounded in that department, which actually could be very important.
they should. specially if the foreign language conserned is an international language such as english. for citizens in countries like sri lanka who use a language that in only confined to that small island, the knowledge of another language may be very beneficial as it not only increases one's interlect but also enables them to communicate with poeple world wide.
i am a college student in the states. in my area it is now mandatory in high school to learn a forein language usualy spanish. i feel that this is outrageous! i fell that the option should be avaliable but not a forced decision.
how do you not belive this:@:(:'(
I like the idea of learning foreign languages, but I hate the fact that almost 100% of the Universities in my home state (NC), require at least 2 foreign language classes. It would be fine for me except my school only teaches Spanish, and I really don't care to learn Spanish. The major problem comes in here. I could get something like Rosetta stone (although expensive), but while I can speak the language fluently, a university would never recognize it because I didn't take it as a class. So do you see the dilemma? I want to go to a four year university, but in order to do that I have to take Spanish, when I would much rather learn French or Latin.
Look below, my comment is 100% agreed
if you want to learn a foreign language even if it isnt spanish you should learn it when you are younger because its a proven fact that if you start a differant language when your younger you will speak it more fluently when you are older. and remember english could be a foreign language to someone that doest speak it fluently in the first place. good debate project!:)
I think students should learn a second language but only if they really want to. There is no point in pupils learning the language if they do not really enjoy it and are willing to learn and listen.
I also think pupils should have the choice to learn a second language when they first start secondary school, that way they have the choice to be dedicated to learning the language, and therefore no teaching time is wasting on the students that simply don't want to be there and the pupils wanting to learn can.
I live in the UK and the amount of students that i hear of who dislike their second language is astrinomical. These kids are not interested in it, but i also feel that if it is compulsary for them to learn the language they study then some teaching methods should be changed because pupils are not enjoying what they learn.