I do believe that all students at
the university level should be required to take at least one foreign language
class. I know many people argue that required classes in college (our beloved “gen-eds”)
are pointless because for many people, once they get to the college level, they
already know which subject areas they are interested in and which subject areas
they are not. I understand this argument but throughout my time at UNH, I have
actually come to support the idea of required classes, and I definitely believe
that a foreign language class should be among those necessary courses.
I
think it is very important to remember that everyone at the university level
has very different educational backgrounds depending on the type of secondary
education they received. Students may think they “know” what they are
interested in when they enter college, but their like or dislike of certain
subject areas may just be the product of their previous schooling. At the
university level, you will find some students who came from high schools that
offered seven or eight languages. Some of these students chose to take three years
of intensive Spanish in high school, then studied abroad for a summer, then
took one year of AP Spanish and aced the AP test. However, you will also find
students at the university level who came from high schools with struggling language
programs—students who were only offered Spanish, who studied it for three years
but were taught entirely in English, and students who had unenthusiastic
teachers and poorly written textbooks. The students who had nothing but bad
experiences with foreign language classes are probably not interested in taking
college level language classes because
they already think that they will hate it. It’s these unmotivated students that
need the language requirement. It’s these students who need to give foreign
language a second chance in college to see how it can benefit them throughout
their lives.
At
the university level, students usually have many different languages to choose
from, so if you hated Spanish in high school, you can try Chinese in college! If
you meet a cool friend in one of your classes from Tunisia, you can try Arabic
or French! It doesn’t matter which language you study or why you want to study
it, it just matters that you give foreign language a try. Languages can open up
so many doors for a person. Not only do languages help people communicate but
they help people build relationships, tiptoe/jump out of their comfort zones,
and open their eyes and minds to different ideas. I think that studying another
language can only benefit a person—to what degree it will benefit them in their
life, I don’t know, but I definitely think that studying foreign languages is a
good thing that everyone should try to have a good experience with. At the
university level where there are so many people from so many different places,
all with different educational experiences and backgrounds, I think it is very
important to require students to take at least one foreign language class.
