Should American students be required to learn a second language?
economic | multicultural | attribute | facilitate | distinct
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Do the Math
Do the Math
In the United States, being bilingual is an attribute that can facilitate getting a good job. Today, the U.S. has many political, economic, and military connections with other countries. The U.S. is also full of immigrants from around the world who speak different languages. In a multicultural country like the U.S., speaking more than one language is a distinct advantage.
Option 1:
Option 1:
In 2006, during the Iraq War, only 33 of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq spoke Arabic. Of these 33, only six were fluent. What percentage of embassy employees spoke fluent Arabic?
A) 006%
B) .06%
C) .6%
D) 6%.
Option 2:
Option 2:
The main languages spoken in Afghanistan are Dari and Pashto. In 2009, there were about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. At that time, the U.S. military’s Defense Language Institute was training about 200 soldiers each year to speak basic Dari and Pashto. At the rate of 200 per year, how many years would it take to train 1% of these 100,000 U.S. troops in basic Dari and Pashto?
Discussion Question:
Discussion Question:
In our multicultural world, there are many languages that schools could teach. If more American soldiers stationed in the Middle East knew Arabic, they would have an easier time talking to the local people in those communities. Now that China is an economic power, knowing Chinese is a distinct attribute that might facilitate getting a job. How should we decide which languages should be a priority for American students? Should we teach languages to help people communicate better with people in their communities? Or should our political and economic goals drive which languages are taught?
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