Education policy often focuses on reading and math; for American students to compete with their peers abroad, however, second language skills are essential. Although English is currently the lingua franca of trade, education, and diplomacy, in the globalized world of the 21st century, Americans with limited language skills are at a disadvantage and American education isn’t doing enough to fix that.
In the 2014 to 2015 school year, an American Academy of Arts and Sciences report on secondary language learning showed that only nine states enrolled at least 30 percent of all K-12 students in a language other than English. The majority of American K-12 students receive no foreign language instruction.
Compared to other countries, this is an abysmal record. In China alone there are 300 to 400 million students learning English and in most of Europe, most students speak two or more languages.
In many American school districts, second language classes are electives and students can graduate high school with limited, if any, exposure to a foreign language. Even worse, most of the students who do have access to foreign language education only have the choice of French, Spanish or German — options which leave out major world languages such as Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic among others.
American higher education also doesn’t fill the gap, and students seem less interested than ever in enrolling in language classes. Between fall 2013 and fall 2016, the Modern Language Association reports that “enrollments in languages other than English fell 9.2% in colleges and universities in the United States.”
Speakers of a second language not only have access to more and better employment opportunities, but studying a second language also has proven cognitive advantages. As jobs are increasingly transnational and the world becomes ever more connected, Americans cannot afford to miss out on the benefits of learning and speaking a second language.
Americans, however, often seem to take for granted that speaking English is good enough. This approach has meant that foreign language education, where mandatory, is to be endured rather than taken as an essential part of learning. This is reinforced as schools struggle to find enough foreign language teachers, leaving classrooms understaffed and teachers overburdened.
To address these deficits, American schools need to recruit more foreign language teachers, potentially from abroad, and provide quality language education throughout K-12 schools. At the same time, students need to have access to immersive experiences that push students to engage with their target language in informal and fun settings. These opportunities will not only target younger students when language acquisition is easier but also teach students that language learning is more than just repeating phrases in the classroom but a tool of communication that is fun and engaging.
Like programs to boost reading and math proficiency, American education must also strive to teach young people language skills. Without them, Americans will be unable to compete with their peers abroad.
