Written by : Aleja Aslan 10/21/2019
One Language, Less Opportunities
"we could be missing out if we don't demand for a better education."
Philadelphia students are having fewer opportunities to participate in the business world and to have access to job opportunities due to the limitation of language. How would learning a second language in high school change this? The education that students are now getting regarding a second language is not a lot. Some schools require a maximum of two years of second language learning in high school, which I have found useless because students are not learning the material, and the information they are receiving is not useful in real life experiences.
In most parts of the world, it is rare to find an educated person who only speaks one language. In America, this is common. Americans are far behind in foreign language skills, with only 18 percent speaking a second language compared to 53 percent of Europeans. The school system is failing us because we should be getting as many opportunities as possible to get ahead of the rest of the world. American students must learn language skills to compete in the global economy. These skills are vital in communicating and doing business. “To prosper economically and to improve relations with other countries,” US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared in 2010, “Americans need to read, speak and understand other languages.” By only speaking English, Americans severely limit their opportunities. Knowing a second language is crucial because it allows the person to communicate and have a variety of jobs that require bilingual skills. However, with a system that is not giving the student the required support, will they miss out on opportunities that other foreign people have because they aren't as advanced in other languages?
Luisa is a German student who came to the U.S for a couple of days as part of the “exchange student program.” While she was here, she had no problem communicating with others. Even though her first language is German, she speaks English very well. This is all due to the education system that they have in Germany. I asked Luisa a couple of questions about her speaking more than one language. She expressed that, “Speaking English has helped me a lot because I like traveling, and therefore I can get around the city and meet new people.” Through her, I learned that in other countries like Germany, “it’s usual to speak more than one language. Most of the Germans can speak English and there are others that can speak a third language, such as Spanish, Italian or French.” Later on, I asked her whether schools in this community should require students to learn more than one language, and she replied, “I think it would be great in Philadelphia to require students to learn another language! Knowing a second language is a lot of fun, and it’s an amazing feeling when you are able to speak with other people in a different language.”
Mrs. Puntel, Maestra Puntel, is a Spanish teacher at Carver High School. She shared facts that she deemed important, such as noticing that students who only took two years of Spanish aren't able to use the language. This is because they soon forget the language. The text books aren’t as helpful because they only refer to grammar which students won’t use as much as the skills that are used in speaking. The students that took a second language between Kindergarten and eighth grade are almost all bilingual by now.There is not a strong support system in regards to learning a second language. Unfortunately, the school district is not offering enough funding to cover these skills. Because America’s primary language is English, which is used heavily in other countries, people in other countries often see Americans speaking English as arrogant. In 2015, our current president Donald Trump said, “We’re a nation that speaks English, and I think that while we’re in this nation, we should be speaking English.” This quote exemplifies harmful beliefs that hold Americans back from learning and stigmatizes those who speak other languages.
How is it limiting the opportunities of the students?
All around the world, employers seek employees who are bilingual. Jobs that require people to speak more than one language are important because it allows the business or career to advance; the ability to communicate with more customers that speak other languages is a lot more helpful. A 2019 report from Berlitz states that in 2010, there were around 240,000 job postings requesting bilingual workers and by 2015, that figure had increased to approximately 630,000. “Today, you’ll find more employers are seeking people who can speak multiple languages in fields such as customer service, hospitality, government, military, information technology and administration. In fact, a study conducted by the University of Phoenix Research Institute suggests that there aren’t enough people speaking languages like Spanish and Mandarin Chinese to meet the growing demand in the market”
Elizabeth Skylejko is one of the most knowledgeable people within the School District Language Arts Department. She shared the idea that high schools do not have enough staff to teach more than two years of a second language. She also expressed that the school district is working on hiring more staff, and establishing programs that offer an advanced level of the second language and activities where students are engaged to a second language. She suggested that the idea of mixing students who are fluent in the language with students who are extremely interested in learning the language would also help.
We need to take a serious interest for our education and the possibilities that we could be missing out on if we don't demand for a better education.