The Panther press The student News Site of king middle school
Learning Another Language: Worth the work?

1 Last week , our school hosted an assembly for 8th graders to share information about what life will be like next year when we go to high school. After the assembly, I was really revved up about next year, but when I talked to some other students, they seemed a little disappointed. You see, high school, all students are required to take at least two years of a foreign language in order to graduate. Some students feel that this policy is unfair. However, I think the language policy is a good idea, and that’s not just because I love learning Spanish! In this article, I’d like to share some of the benefits of being able to speak another language. I hope that after reading this, some of my fellow students will begin to feel the same way, too.

The benefits

2 After the assembly last week, I decided to do a little research about language learning. I discovered there are a lot of good reasons to learn another language. First, learning another language can help you communicate with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Since I first started studying Spanish in middle school, I’ve become more aware of how linguistically diverse the United States is. In 1980, about 23 million people spoke a language other than English at home, but now almost 60 million people do. There were 26 million more Spanish speakers in 2010 than were 30 years before, and other languages are being spoken more and more frequently, such as Vietnamese and Russian.

3 Learning another language could also help you get smarter. Research shows that learning and speaking another language positively affects the brain. Some findings indicate the language learning can improve thinking and reasoning skills. When people learn another language, they get better at problem solving and thinking about abstract concept. It just might be that if you keep learning another language, you’ll also learn more in other classes!

4 It’s also important to think about how speaking another language can help you in the future . Many colleges require some language experience or credits in order to be considered for admission. The Modern Language Association report that course enrollment in languages other than English are steadily increasing at colleges and universities. In fact, enrollments in college Arabic classes—one of the most popular languages right now—jumped 46% between 2006 and 2009. In addition, knowing another language could increase the number of career opportunities available to you down the road. In today’s global economy, it’s unrealistic to think that you would never have to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English.

The Other Side

5 Now, I don’t want it to seem like I can’t see another point of view. The students I spoke with had valid reasons for believing they shouldn’t be required to learn another language in order to graduate. First, many students argued that because English is spoken around the globe, there was no need to learn another language. Weather traveling abroad for business or pleasure, you are likely to meet people who speak English-at least in the larger cities.

6 Second, some students felt that there was no time to take language classes in high school. When you consider all of the classes you are required to take—math, science, English, history—you see that there are only so many hours in the day.

7 Finally, some students felt that studying in a classroom may not be the best way to learn another language. Immersion opportunities might be a better option. A study from Georgetown University showed that a language can be learned both in the classroom and through immersion but, in order to speak and think like a native speaker, you need to be surrounded by the language and culture.

8 Despite these compelling points, I still believe that being able to speak another language is a valuable skill. What if a job you really wanted required you to know another language? What if you were traveling or working in less urban areas around the world? How would knowing another language improve the professional relationship between two businesses people or companies? These are important questions to consider. In my opinion, learning another language IS worth the work, and in the end , I’ll bet that other students will agree.

What is the author’s point of view in the passage?

A) third-person omniscient

B) third-person limited

C) first-person

D) second-person