Should Spanish be a required course in American schools?

[Dewgong]

when i was down in florida, half of the population down there speak spanish as a first language, usually without knowledge of much english. it's amazing because here in washington, two people in the city speak spanish as a first language compared to down there. i think it should probably be required as a class in places like that, but not in... example; washington because it's just not necessary.

also... languages are fun, and i didn't learn any of the language-related things i know in class, and i use them all the time outside of class. i wish more kids cared too, then schools would bother with having classes for them because people would... uhhhh take them.

 

[Autumn]

How useless are you going to be if there's an emergency and the only people around you don't speak English?

Something similar (though not quite an emergency) happened to a friend on the way back from the school's New York trip; we had stopped for lunch at a mall and the workers at the stand she was ordering at didn't speak English. She was pretty proud of getting to practice her Spanish skills outside of school.

 

[xkze]

Nah, English should be a required course in Mexican schools.
They'll all be over here eventually anyway.

 

[fresh fruit for Adol]

In the junior high I went to, it was required to take either Spanish or French, unless a student had anger problems, other problems, or did very poorly in school, or we beg the school not to make us take it (I grew up learning a fair bit of Spanish as it was, and I had no desire to learn French, so I ended up helping in our school's library for an hour x.x). At our high school, it's not required to take Spanish, but we need to take at least two years of some language, be it French, Italian, Latin, German, or Chinese, we can take any of them.

It's not just Spanish though, but nobody should be required to take any language course they don't want to take. I have a friend out in Singapore, and in the school he went to, they were required to take Chinese, and he himself is not very fond of the subject, especially with the way the school taught it.

 

[Nanashii]

Honestly? Anyone ever seen Godzila Final Wars? Everyone spoke a different language but everyone understood each other.

I think it should be required that way theres no barriers between cultures, and is a step toward unity.

I understand I may sound like a fruit, but hey. Deal with it

 

[Vladimir Putin's LJ]

I dunno, considering America did steal a shit-ton of land off Mexico ages ago without ever giving due retribution it's not entirely unfair to have to learn their language.
But I think Mexicans should learn English as well. That makes life easier for everyone. I think I said somewhere in the thread that it'd be cool if Americans were taught more than one language and I stand by that.

 

[fresh fruit for Adol]

Honestly? Anyone ever seen Godzila Final Wars? Everyone spoke a different language but everyone understood each other.

I think it should be required that way theres no barriers between cultures, and is a step toward unity.

I understand I may sound like a fruit, but hey. Deal with it

Tekken 5 did the same thing xD You'd have scenes with Feng speaking Cantonese, with Hworang, or Baek Doo San speaking in Korean with hm, and they'd know what they're talking about xD

 

[ijy]

no this is america not mexico if anything learning english should be required on elis island!!!!!

 

[Mai]

No. People should have choices other than that and french. I approve of a foreign language, but why Spanish? Just because it's popular? There might be more teachers, but what about weekly homework assignments instead? Say you wanted to learn Mandarin. The class learns spanish, you get a similar thing to do at home. There learning how to say hello. Go to a free learning site and learn how to say hello.
The less you like it, the harder it will be.

 

[Adriane]

No. People should have choices other than that and french. I approve of a foreign language, but why Spanish? Just because it's popular?

Because teachers are available and 14% of the United States' population's primary language is Spanish.

There might be more teachers, but what about weekly homework assignments instead? Say you wanted to learn Mandarin. The class learns spanish, you get a similar thing to do at home. There learning how to say hello. Go to a free learning site and learn how to say hello.

...?

The less you like it, the harder it will be.

The majority of American students dislike maths ∴ American students should not be required to study mathematics?

 

[Tarvos]

The arguments about how 'useful' Spanish is make some sense, but how many kids are actually going to use their foreign language outside of class anyway?

I do. English is a foreign language to me; I speak it every day with my girlfriend, who isn't Dutch.

 

[Vladimir Putin's LJ]

no this is america not mexico if anything learning english should be required on elis island!!!!!

THIS IS ARE COUNTRY

 

[Peter Shadeslayer]

No. Just because the majority of immigrants speak it, we should not be forced to.

 

[Tarvos]

I'm not sure Spanish should be a required course, to be honest; I think it should always be available in the United States. I think the point is that one foreign language should be compulsory; I think students should be free to choose whichever one this is. Of course Spanish is a very wise choice, but if I wanted to learn Hebrew instead; why not?

 

[Adriane]

Of course Spanish is a very wise choice, but if I wanted to learn Hebrew instead; why not?

How many elementary schools have Hebrew teachers available?

 

[jimmyboyacreman]

no one really needs to learn a second language, so it should be optional

 

[Tarvos]

How many elementary schools have Hebrew teachers available?

Go to a Jewish school.

Anyway, I'm just randomly suggesting Hebrew. It's the point of learning a language that matters; just learning Spanish is a good idea because it's widespread. Personally I don't know any Spanish though. It depends on what is available and what the person wants.

 

[Ivy Newton]

English is choppy here always, making it confusing to understand someone. that obvious.ly. Is here illegally. Why? Here, to get in legally, you need to speak English passingly well. And our State Language is English, yet many places REQUIRE you to learn Spanish, when, really, everyone here is suppose to use ENGLISH.

Just a note: even if it's not exactly legal to come here not knowing English, plenty of people do. And it certainly appears that they're not getting deported any time soon. In fact, I even know some legal immigrants that speak little to no English.

Anyways... no, I don't think Spanish should be required. It's certainly useful where I live, but I definitely don't plan to live here my entire life. It depends on what you want to do and where you want to live. A blanket rule requiring Spanish wouldn't work terribly well. Nor would a blanket rule requiring any other language, really.

I do, however, agree that it's beneficial to learn some sort of second language or another. Personally, I take Chinese. Even though it's not that useful in the Southwest USA, it's liable to be rather useful elsewhere. Out there in the real world that is, something which New Mexico most certainly is not =P

EDIT: One more note. In fact, many of the elementary schools around here teach Spanish as compulsory. And many of the middle schools offer it - along with other languages. It's not just high schools that have second languages, at least in terms of the schools I've gone to.

'Course even though I started with Spanish in Kindergarten, I had horridly suckish teachers and still don't know a word of it. Despite half the population here speaking it and my dad speaking it fluently =P

 

[Adriane]

Just a note: even if it's not exactly legal to come here not knowing English, plenty of people do. And it certainly appears that they're not getting deported any time soon. In fact, I even know some legal immigrants that speak little to no English.

What?

EDIT: One more note. In fact, many of the elementary schools around here teach Spanish as compulsory. And many of the middle schools offer it - along with other languages. It's not just high schools that have second languages, at least in terms of the schools I've gone to.

Most halfway-decent American schools are like that, with students starting Spanish in kindergarten. What's important to note that these classes don't merely teach the language, they put emphasis into culture.

Also, many high school districts have two+ years of the same foreign language as a graduation requirement. Having some Spanish (or at least another language) under your belt is a nice boost.

 

[ultraviolet]

no one really needs to learn a second language, so it should be optional

Sure, you don't need to learn it if you plan to spend the rest of your life where you are now or you're going to rely on other people to know english if you ever go anywhere else, which is kind of rude
:|