Behind the curve

Being the most diverse nation in the world one would think should make us also the most capable of easily learning other languages. On the contrary, im saddened to know that we are so far behind other nations when it comes to educating our youth in foreign language. An overwhelming amount of other countries implement foreign language curriculum very early in there youths education, making them more culturally,economically, and business savvy. Not only is learning a foreign language easier for children than it is for adults, but children who are exposed to other languages also do better in school, score higher on standardized tests, are better problem solvers and are more open to diversity.


The ever growing population of Latin Americans in the united states demonstrates an immediate need for employees who fluently speak English and Spanish. The job opportunities in this nation for people who fluently speak Spanish and English are increasing daily. From Federal government jobs, to your local dentist, the need for bilingual services has no limits. In these tough economic times when any job is a good job people who do not speak both languages are at a severe disadvantage.


To better prepare the next generation of our nation we need to begin implementing foreign language programs now. The need for the study of these languages has already been recognized but some questions still remain. How do we effectively implement such a program into our children's everyday curriculum? What languages should our children be learning? The sooner we answer these questions , the sooner we will be in contingency with the rest of the industrial nations of the world so we can once again become leaders in the educational field, and children without the advantage of being born into a bilingual family will be have the same opportunities as those who are.

One of the arguements about learning another language, is that it takes away from the culture of the native english speakers of this country, the irony is that this is the youngest nation in the world and since the begining of this country's existance we have been incredibly diverse. Our culture from the 1500's to this day has consisted of Native Americans, Africans, Irish and Italian Immigrants and a constant arrival of Mexican americans. Our nation is like a song that has been remixed with no real original song. So the arguement about forgetting ones culture is out of the window because our culture in itself has always been multicultural