Foreign language courses in public school - Essay Example

According to (Dillon 2010), this is a distressing news that many schools nationwide have stopped teaching foreign languages overlooking the fact that a greater number of linguists are present needed in America in an order to look after the global business and diplomacy. The talk about necessarily requiring the American students to take foreign language courses at the schools is weighty and fraught with positive merits because research shows that younger children are more able to develop familiarity with foreign languages and learn to speak them fluently than senior people are.

Young school students are of that age when acquiring knowledge about new and difficult things does not create much hurdles for the students and they are able to go all the way through to acquire control over foreign languages, which are sure to assist them a lot in their later lives when they would have to survive in a culturally diverse society and interact with people speaking different languages. There are many jobs which essentially demand the candidates to be bi-lingual. Jobs in the fields of teaching and business require an individual to be able to socially interact with many people from different backgrounds and who may be speaking different languages.

Moreover, according to (Peckham, n.d.), “children in foreign language programs have tended to demonstrate greater cognitive development, creativity, and divergent thinking than monolingual children.” . elds of teaching and business require an individual to be able to socially interact with many people from different backgrounds and who may be speaking different languages. Moreover, according to (Peckham, n.d.), “children in foreign language programs have tended to demonstrate greater cognitive development, creativity, and divergent thinking than monolingual children.

” Early foreign language learning is also important because children are the future of a country and arming them with the tool of speaking foreign languages can help them in accepting different cultural beliefs. Even proponents believe that being bi-lingual is important and beneficial in the 21st century since globalization is a prominent feature of the present America, still they obstinately stand by the viewpoint that making the foreign language courses mandatory at school level is not a wise step and should be re-considered in many educational setups.

Proponents suggest that though learning foreign languages has its merits, still importance of an individual’s freedom should never be forgotten and in the end, it should be the student him/herself and no other authority that should decide whether taking foreign language classes is important at school or not. Proponents also claim that essentially requiring the American students to take foreign language courses at schools is not a wise step because there is already a complex and tough academic course for the students that may virtually leave the students with no excess time for learning foreign languages.

This claim may be true to some extent but can be suppressed by adjusting the curriculum in such a smart way that the students would not have to face troubles in adjusting their time between other courses and additional foreign language courses.