Foreign Languages in School

In a poll taken by Americans, only 29% of them can “speak a language other than English well enough to hold a conversation.” If schools are requiring foreign languages classes in school then why can only 29% of the people hold a conversation? This is because of the way the language is taught and how old the students are. Children start leaning English when they are two to three years old. Most schools start teaching foreign languages when their students are seven to eight years old. That means there is a five-year gap when children have no knowledge of any other language. It is easier to learn another language while your brain is still developing. Roger Schank, a retired professor, states in a blog titled “Education Outrage” that “You cannot possibly learn a language any way other than being immersed in it and talking and listening and talking.” Therefore, Foreign language should be prioritized while the children are in kindergarten and then later continued in elementary school and middle school. Then they are exposed to other languages from a early age and can spend more time focusing on this other language.
However, for students today who started when they were seven years old, they should be required to take a foreign language until their sophomore year in high school. Students should focus their last two years of high school studying the subjects that they wish to continue throughout their life. If they haven’t learned anything yet, how could two years learning the same thing with the same teachers change anything? This way in high school and in college students can spend more time learning subjects that they might not have understood when they were younger such as math, science, and English. Also, the student may not go into a career field that requires them to know any other language. For some students this could be a waste of time and they won’t put the effort into the class.
On the other hand learning a foreign language can “help you to expand your view of the world” and can possible save lives. In once case in Afghanistan, trained soldiers “restoring peace in these war torn societies and helping to rebuild a country, which could only be facilitated through language and cultural understanding.”