I think that making a requirement for foreign languages at
the university level could either help or hinder students, depending on their
major and background. I believe foreign
languages are building blocks for general learning and become helpful skills to
have in most situations including in the job market.
As a requirement for university level students, I think that
foreign languages may hurt more than help some students because there are some
people who struggle greatly with learning a new language. If required to complete a foreign language
series, some student who do not do well in those classes may fail to complete
the requirement. One example of this
kind of student is a science, math, or engineering student. Speaking from my experience as a former
engineering student, I know that there are people whose minds simply function
differently when it comes to different kinds of information retention and
comprehension. Some people are, through
no fault of their own, simply better at analytical thought as opposed to
creative and language based knowledge.
For that kind of student, forcing a language requirement upon them
could, at best, take up some of their time from their other studies, detracting
from their focus, or, at worst, cause them to fall behind in their coursework
or even prevent them from progressing because of failures.
While I certainly understand the desire to create a
well-rounded student, I think that there are better ways to broaden a student’s
knowledge and skill set while in college.
One sure way to hinder a student’s progress in school is to force them
to do something they do not enjoy or understand.
I agree with what you said about some students simply don't have that language learning brain that some of their others peers do. It just doesn't happen as easily for some people, depending on how they learn in the classroom. However, I think that if we are going to have other requirements for students(i.e. science, arts, history requirements..) at the university level then we should also incorporate a foreign language aspect as well to create a more well-rounded and aware student. That being said, I think that it should be all or nothing; we all have to take classes from different departments, or we only have to pick from what we are majoring in and feel comfortable taking.
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ReplyDeleteI think that you made an interesting point here that I was also thinking about in my own post. Speaking for myself, I am not a person who enjoys or is very good at science and math. Forcing these subjects upon make me less interested. In required math and science classes, I was able to perform, but the information was both uninteresting to me and difficult for me to grasp. I cannot remember much of the information that I learned because there are no real use for much of it in my everyday life and in my subject area. Jen creates a good point here, talking about the "well-rounded student" but I am not sure that this is really possible. Although I believe it is important to know something about everything, I think it is more useful in real like (especially in the job seeking world) to know a lot about a few subjects instead. In some professions, this may not be the case, such as an Elementary school teacher who needs to learn and know a lot about different subject areas, but in most cases it is important to strive to understand more about a few subjects.
ReplyDeleteI think you made a very good point here when you mentioned students falling behind in their major-related course work because their time is consumed with their non-major required courses. Although I still believe that all students at the university level should be required to take at least one foreign language class, I definitely see your point. Throughout my time here at UNH I've definitely had moments of pure frustration with the "gen-ed" system- whether it was while studying mathematical formulas that I swore I'll "never use again" or while reading a 1000 page book for my History of Western Civilization class-but all in all, I do think classes in certain subject areas should be required. If the only thing you get out of a class is the knowledge that you do NOT like that subject area, at least you gave it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a great point and I've thought about it before. But it also makes me question the entire general education system then. If you make a liberal arts student take two gen ed science classes isn't it the same as making an engineering student take a language requirement? I feel like it is unfair to have one without the other. If I have to go out of my way for my major to give science classes a try I feel like those other students should also just give a language a try. Who knows, they might actually be pretty good at it but were just stuck in the mindset that they weren't.
ReplyDeleteI considered this point when writing my opinion on whether foreign languages should be required or not, but I agree with those who have stated their opinion that if taking science, math, history classes etc are required for those who don't do well in those subjects, a foreign language requirement shouldn't be any different. Speaking from experience, I struggle with math and science classes and having to take those as part of my gen ed requirements hindered my grade and dropped my gpa quite a bit no matter how hard I studied for my courses. I think that if students are still required to take gen ed classes that have nothing to do with their major, a foreign language class should be one of those
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