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Should Spanish be a required course in American schools?

Should Spanish be a required course in American schools?


  • Total voters
    134
Not speaking a language hasn't got anything to do with legal. Not learning the language when you live somewhere is merely extremely, extremely rude. It's like a big fuck you to the population.
 
yes let's ban education while we're at it god damn government making you actually learn useful things
 
No. Forced education of any kind is ineffective and morally wrong.

See John Holt's "How Children Fail" and "How Children Learn".
 
why would we ban those just because you suck at it right

it's not useless because you're bad at it
 
Because gym and art is a waste of time, and world language because it's wasting the school's money. Kids should do more math and science. Barack Obama says so.
 
No!! we're NOT going to ban education. We should ban in out:

-gym
-world language
-art
Yeah, forget all the artists, linguists, and athletes in the world, they're not important at all!
Hope you guys can tell that's sarcasm
 
Because gym and art is a waste of time, and world language because it's wasting the school's money. Kids should do more math and science. Barack Obama says so.

So, you think that learning to keep yourself healthy and fit is a waste of time? I may have hated PE when I was in school, but I know it was for my own good. PE (usually) at least tries to teach kids how to keep themselves healthy and how to exercise and how to eat well. There are very few of us who can keep in shape and healthy without some kind of exercise.

As for language; how would you feel if a bunch of people just came to where you live, and started to speak their language and refused to learn yours? That's pretty arrogant. It also can be pretty fun finding out the roots and such of words in other languages; English itself has lots and lots of loan words. As a rather amusing quote I found once said: 'English; a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages, and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.' It's a fairly accurate description.

But this is where you got me. Art. Art is not useless. Far from it. Art is deeply ingrained in our culture, images are the root of most, if not all, of the ancient languages. Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Chinese and Japanese writing, even cave paintings were a form of communication. Art is the study of beauty, something which brightens our day. Am I wasting my time when I spend over a day on a single drawing to make it exactly how I want it? I'm going to pay thousands of dollars and moving halfway across my province to attend an art school, so I can do what I love. Is this a waste? I'm good at art. Should I waste my gift on something so 'wasteful' as to preform the single thing I would love to spend my day doing?

you can tell I'm mad, I posted in the debating hall. ;_; such a bad post, too.
 
No!! we're NOT going to ban education. We should ban in out:

-gym
-world language
-art

...Normally I would stay far, far away from the Debating Hall in fear of saying stupid stuff, but seriously. Give reasons to back up your opinions. Why is gym, language, and art stupid? Why should they be banned? Almost everything I wanted to say has been included in FMC's post. Gym completely drags down my marks, and I'm none too fond of it, but it's the only thing that's keeping me from gaining, I dunno, twenty pounds a day? Of course, that's exaggerating, but still. And what of the people who enjoy sports, and want to major in some sort of sport? If there wasn't a gym course, well, they'd have a much lower chance of becoming an athlete, or something around those lines. Hey, in most high schools (if not all), gym isn't required. Don't want it, don't take it. Simple as that. It's there for other people.

And language. I don't know which country you live in, but Canada happens to be a country of many cultures. No matter their ethnic background, though, nearly all people know how to speak English or French. Basically what FMC said: how would you feel if everyone around you spoke a different language? We wouldn't be able to communicate, society would have much more trouble getting around; in fact, I don't think it would be too much of a hyperbole to call it chaos. We have languages for a reason. And it wouldn't be wise to say that the entire world should speak only one language, because that would be taking away a large part of their culture, something very valuable and difficult to give up.

Finally, art. Like FMC, I consider myself an artist, and you have no idea how much it makes me angry when people say art is useless. It's far from that. Many people make a living from it - I plan to make a living from it, actually, when I grow up. It's a different form of communication, one that is the embodiment of beauty if executed properly, and well... a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. It's everywhere, you see it every day, and life would be very dull without it. Imagine going about every day, never seeing that spectacular sunrise or sunset, or that starry sky - photography is an art. Imagine if every building was the exact same in structure and design - architecture is an art. Art is a broad thing, and if it were banned altogether, our world would be vastly different. I feel like I'm rambling here, but really. Art. Is. Not. Useless.

... :I Okay. To get back on topic: Spanish should not be required, but it should most definitely be a course. I'm sure there are many people who want to learn it, not only because they want to be able to communicate with people who speak Spanish, but because they're interested in the language itself. Of course, going by this argument, a bunch of other languages should be available, but due to course restrictions or whatever I'd vouch for the most widely-spoken languages to be optional courses.
... *creeps back into her corner*
 
While I do think FireMario's post is pretty ridiculous non-technical art is objectively useless except for being pretty. My drawing a comic won't bring anything to the world.
I mean of course it makes the soul richer and makes one more culturally aware (so it's unsurprising someone with FM's post history would appreciate it) and so on but I'm talking on a 100% practical level.
 
How is beauty and meaning not an end in itself? We should always strive for the perfect blend of aesthetics and practicality.

If something entertains or otherwise captivates someone then surely it has a right to exist? That's its purpose so that's what it does - I see no reason to say it's not of any "practical" value. It doesn't cure cancer but who cares? If it makes someone smile, makes them happy or if it just makes someone think or feel anything that's enough for me to say it's "useful."
 
I think you should need to learn the basics of a common language, depending on where you live. For example, here in New York, I think French would be better to learn, since we're so close to Canada.

I don't understand why Spanish is always picked as the sole language. The closest country that speaks Spanish here is Mexico, and I don't see many Mexican people walking around here.
 
and I don't see many Mexican people walking around here.
Mexico and Spain aren't the only countries that speak Spanish; I'm sure there are tons of latinos around where you live. New York, be it the city or the rest of the state has an incredibly high latino population.
 
Because gym and art is a waste of time, and world language because it's wasting the school's money. Kids should do more math and science. Barack Obama says so.

p.e. is not a waste of time - exercise is needed to stay healthy, that much is known

art is objectively useless but it definitely should be taught for a few years - i'm no self expression hippie but kids need methods of expression as well as just facts and numbers.

how is learning a language wasting anyone's money that is just retarded - languages are some of the most critical things to learn in school

kids should do more math and science but kids should have more hours of class in general because you know - they don't keep them in school enough. basically there need to be a few extra hours of maths and sciences a week.

also appeal to authority for lolfail
 
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