Should Spanish be a required course in American schools?

[Fer-Snazzle]

Ok, so the majority of Americans speak english... And most - if not all - of the americans who only speak spanish are from South of The U.S. I think it's profoundly disrespectful to come to a country and not even bother learning the language there.

 

[Furretsu]

Ok, so the majority of Americans speak english... And most - if not all - of the americans who only speak spanish are from South of The U.S. I think it's profoundly disrespectful to come to a country and not even bother learning the language there.

Although I agree, one could argue that America doesn't even have an official language...

 

[Murkrow]

Well, only about 20% or so of people in Wales speak Welsh and it's compulsory. It's an entirely different thing though, I guess, since Welsh is kind of our language.

Since when is Welsh compulsory? It is in my school, but that's a Welsh only school. I was under the impression that most schools in Wales didn't even teach it.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Well, only about 20% or so of people in Wales speak Welsh and it's compulsory. It's an entirely different thing though, I guess, since Welsh is kind of our language.

That's cultural preservation, if anything.

I believe a second language should be required. No language should be compulsory, though, since I think it's hard to learn a language you don't want to learn.

 

[Harlequin]

Since when is Welsh compulsory? It is in my school, but that's a Welsh only school. I was under the impression that most schools in Wales didn't even teach it.

what

All schools in Wales teach Welsh. It's, um, compulsory until sixteen.

 

[Murkrow]

what

All schools in Wales teach Welsh. It's, um, compulsory until sixteen.

Where in Wales do you live?
There are loads of schools here that don't teach it. I don't know how many.

The school next to my old primary school didn't teach it I know that for sure.

 

[ChronaMew]

No.

There's way too many requirements as it is. At this school, they just made it required to have ten semesters of English (Meaning the usual classes and then an additional class.) for incoming Freshmen. If they wanted high schoolers to get a broad understanding of Spanish, then they would need perhaps three or four years of Spanish and a trip to Spain. What could have been taken instead in those years? Band? Art? Drama? A different language?

But don't get me wrong. I do want to learn Spanish. But I'll just try to learn it from my friends and my Rosetta Stone CDs. I can tell you that those CDs have helped me a lot more than the teachers have. xD

 

[Harlequin]

Where in Wales do you live?
There are loads of schools here that don't teach it. I don't know how many.

The school next to my old primary school didn't teach it I know that for sure.

I live in south Wales. All of the schools around here teach Welsh and it's compulsory. I've always been told that Welsh is compulsory everywhere in Wales until the age of sixteen and that's been confirmed by friends from other schools.

 

[Murkrow]

I live in South Wales too...

Since when has it been like this? It can't have been longer than a couple of years.

 

[Harlequin]

Wiki says since 2000 but I've always been taught Welsh in school.

 

[Hawkfish]

Yes I think you should learn a second language. But, force only Spanish however? There is other languages that are useful as well. I don't wish to be forced to learn something like this if I want to learn something else.
Also people have enough trouble speaking proper English. Learn English first. Seriously. I have seen people who supposedly have English as their main language and say "I ain't got no". Learn English first then a second language of your choice.

 

[Crazy Weavile]

No. As useful as it is, it should absolutely not be forced on someone. Languages should be strongly recommended, but that's all.

 

[Harlequin]

Why should they only be "strongly recommended?" Language is an important skill like maths or science and having at least a passing knowledge of a foreign language can greatly help you to understand your own more thoroughly.

 

[allitersonance]

iirc, isn't French required in Canada? And I do think that is reasonable because of the number of people that speak it.

I think French is required in Quebec and more eastern Canada because it was settled by the French. As opposed to western Canada whcih was more settled by England. I'm not sure though.

Shows how much I know about Canada. :P

I don't know the exact situation where it should be required. Obviously, since just about 20% of Canadians speak French at home, It shouldn't be required.

iirc French is required here because we don't want Quebec to leave us, and didn't a few decades ago either.


Also I don't know much about Spanish, America, and how much they relate, but I'm going with the "Learn a second language but don't force Spanish" crowd. I'd also say to start learning from an earlier age (You start in high school? o.o For us French stops being compulsory one year into it), but not sure how it can be done when there isn't one you know you're sticking with.

Though I'd personally prefer not to have to learn them at all, but mostly because of "D: More work I can't choose to avoid" <<

 

[surskitty]

I'd also say to start learning from an earlier age (You start in high school? o.o For us French stops being compulsory one year into it), but not sure how it can be done when there isn't one you know you're sticking with.

Yeah, this is part of "dude American school systems are stupid." They don't usually start offering foreign languages until either last year of middle school or sometime in high school. I was lucky in that my school started in seventh grade which is... still pretty late.

It can't be that hard to have elementary school teachers teaching Spanish or French or something. :/ And it'd be a much better idea than the current system, at least around here. They expect people to take a foreign language for at least two years but don't start until it gets considerably harder to pick up a second language. How in the world does that make sense?

 

[Eevee]

Fuck Spanish. Lazy immigrants are no reason to specifically teach a single language, and while I'm sure much of the world speaks it, a lot of those are in South American countries which are not exactly super-important on a global scale at the moment. If you're worrying about being able to communicate with people, you should be learning Chinese, which is both most-spoken in the world and the native language of a country with a critically important economy.

Require a language, but strongly encourage something that is not a modern Romance language. Learn Latin or Greek or Hebrew or Russian or C/J/K or anything that doesn't share 50% of its vocabulary and 70% of its grammar with your native language. Spanish is particularly useless in this regard.

 

[Empoleon]

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding. I think it should be required when over a third of your country speaks a certain language on average, or something like that. That isn't the case in the US, but there are still a lot of people that do speak it, and that was what I was trying to say.

iirc, isn't French required in Canada? And I do think that is reasonable because of the number of people that speak it.

About 20% of Canadians speak French at home; you think French should be required.

"Well in Texas, New Mexico, and California, over a quarter of the population speaks Spanish"; you think Spanish shouldn't be required.

Both arguments are void because, like Kusarigamaitachi said, Canada wants Quebec to stay in. French is also an official language of Canada...

There is little to debate: the importance of Spanish to the United States is a matter of opinion. In my opinion Spanish is important enough to the USA and to the world to warrant compulsory Spanish lessons. I think an American student ought in fact to study at least three languages: English, Spanish, and a language chosen by him.

Most likely some people couldn't handle that, though. And I agree with Hawkfish that some people still need to work on their first language (English).

As far as schools teaching Spanish from elementary, I know some that do, but they are really small and private. But I think it would be really expensive to get all elementary teachers to learn Spanish. Though, eventually IF Spanish was mandatory that wouldn't be much of a problem...

But really, if we go by the most popular language, we should be learning Mandarin Chinese or Arabic by most influential. Heck, Swahili might be a better choice over Spanish as well because it is being used as the only African language for the African Union. So Arabic, Chinese over Spanish at the least.

 

[Dewgong]

Oh God, no. If Spanish was ever a required language, I wouldn't pay attention.

It may be the most useful language in the States, but why should I care? I'm not going to live here. :P

 

[Adriane]

But really, if we go by the most popular language, we should be learning Mandarin Chinese or Arabic by most influential. Heck, Swahili might be a better choice over Spanish as well because it is being used as the only African language for the African Union. So Arabic, Chinese over Spanish at the least.

Only where the hell is Mandarin used outside China and Taipei? It's only the most "popular" language because one fifth of the entire world lives in China. For business purposes, yeah. For elementary school? Probably not. High school? Sure thing.

Swahili is kinda the same way to a lesser degree because more than two countries use it, but is probably less useful than Mandarin in the US.

Spanish, followed by French and German, are simply the most useful secondary languages in the US, it's plain and simple.

In Elementary school, if there was language education, I'd definitely put Spanish or French on top of the list. Come (junior) high school, any language available would do. After all, not everybody's going into busniess or diplomacy.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Only where the hell is Mandarin used outside China and Taipei?

In my household. :p And Singapore.

a lot of those are in South American countries which are not exactly super-important on a global scale at the moment.

I wouldn't be so sure about South American nations being so un-important. Venezuela produces more than enough oil for us to take notice. They don't speak Spanish, but a very large reserve was found recently in Brazilian waters.

In the end, the importance of other languages might br shrinking, though. Seems more like everyone else wants to learn English than Americans want to learn languages other than English...