In an age where global interaction is an icon click away, Americans remain culturally isolated from the rest of the world. According to a Gallup poll, only 26 percent of Americans are fluent in a language other than English, and more worryingly, only 19 percent say it is essential to learn a language other than English. On the contrary, 56 percent of Europeans speak at least two languages, and 98 percent say it is essential that their kids learn to do the same.
“Europeans see the need for foreign language education directly because they need to speak multiple languages to communicate with the people around them,” French teacher Ms. Le Goupil said. “Therefore, European parents tend to emphasize their children’s pursuit of other languages as a main educational goal, while American parents are more likely to see it as unimportant or secondary to other subjects.”
This ethnocentrism among Americans cannot persist. A failure to study other languages will perpetuate an unjust sense of superiority among Americans that undermines our ability to communicate with other nations. More extensive foreign language education in the United States will quickly right the wrong perspective in which we have nothing to gain from the rest of the world. It will also create more tolerance among Americans for immigrants.
“It is very unfortunate that many Americans are still deeply influenced by the misleading information concerning China as an underdeveloped country,” Chinese teacher Traci Pi said. “There is a saying in Chinese that ‘one who knows his own strength and that of the enemy is invincible in battles.’ As an educator and parent who has children in the United States, I think it is imperative that we teach the next generation the skills to understand our competitors in this world… [Stronger foreign language education] will help solve common misconceptions about other cultures, encourage tolerance towards others, allow our children to see the whole picture, and most importantly help us remain a strong economic power in this fast-changing world.”
Clearly, America’s poor record on foreign language education has negative cultural ramifications. However, the problems do not cease there. As Ms. Pi said, a higher frequency of bilingual Americans will not only make America a more tolerant and communicative nation, but also enable the next generation to compete in the global market. Bilingualism makes getting almost any job easier—from the esoteric to the menial. Whether it is conversing with customers at a hardware store or giving a sales pitch to owners of a foreign business, speaking multiple languages is a valuable asset for someone searching for a job.
While everyone may not care about cultural goals, almost every American is likely to count better job prospects as a worthy reason to pursue a new educational goal. Regardless, sometimes it is not even the will of the people that matters, but the will of one man with a vision. In fact, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman proved that great advances in this historically neglected aspect of education can be made if only a state government commits to do it.
In 2005, when Mr. Huntsman took office, he set up a critical language advisory board with a critical language coordinator, and the board decided to augment existing efforts to teach kids two rare but increasingly useful languages: Mandarin Chinese and Arabic. At the beginning of his term, only a few dozen Utah students took Mandarin. By 2009, six thousand students were enrolled in Mandarin classes statewide.
“We made the decision that languages are going to be a critically important driver in educating our young people. Math and science…are important, but language is going to have to be a part of that…Utah is positioning itself for the future,” Governor Huntsman said of his state’s foreign language advancements.
There is no reason the same developments cannot be made in New York, and more specifically, Massapequa. Currently, Massapequa offers four languages starting in seventh grade. French, German, and Spanish have been offered for many years, and Mandarin was added to the selection pool this year. At the high school level, American Sign Language and Italian are also available.
“Massapequa School District has always had a very strong foreign language program and continues to be a leader among the top school districts across Long Island,” LOTE Curriculum Associate William Anderson said. “Our Advanced Placement and St. John’s programs prepare our students to be “College and Career Ready,” based on the requirements of the New York State Education Department. The Massapequa German program is strong and continues to grow. Our American Sign Language (ASL) program is very popular and is among the very few elite programs on Long Island. Moreover, our ASL teachers are leaders among the ASL teaching community. Our most recent addition to the program, Mandarin Chinese, was implemented in September 2009 with two sections of level one. That has grown to five sections, including our first seventh grade program and as an elective at the Ames campus.”
Despite impressive credentials relative to the rest of the nation, Massapequa’s language other than English curriculum has room to grow, and Mr. Anderson, who is also the Vice President of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers, has high hopes for the future of the district’s foreign language curriculum.
“In order to continue to improve language fluency and proficiency, I hope that Massapequa is able to implement a language program in the elementary schools in the near future. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), research indicates that early language learning generally results in native or near-native pronunciation and intonation. The research corroborates additional benefits including strengthening of literacy in students’ first language. With the current economic climate and the state-imposed tax cap, this will be a challenge.”
As Mr. Anderson mentioned, there is a barrier standing between his goals and the extent of the programs Massapequa has today—money. As a public school district, Massapequa derives its funding from local taxpayers, and given the recession of the last few years and the state tax cap, which makes it very difficult to raise school taxes about two percent each year, it will be hard to hire the teachers necessary to implement foreign language learning at the elementary school level.
Regardless, most students and teachers of foreign language know that this is the goal Massapequa must work towards if the district is to play an integral role in changing the perspective many Americans have on foreign language education. Changing the mindset of a nation is a tall order, but it must start somewhere, and Massapequa could be that launching point.
Down the road, the district could turn out a class of seven-hundred bilingual graduates every year. First, though, language programs at the elementary school level must be implemented. The path to get there must include greater parental support. Massapequa already has ambitious leadership and talented teachers in the foreign language department; now, the community must step up to the plate and recognize the importance of building foreign language proficiency among students. If the community and Board of Education were to support this initiative, Massapequa could become an example for the entire nation to follow.