Mandatory Second Language Learning: An Excellent Idea

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Recommended: Should Students Be Required to Take Second Language Classes

It has become common knowledge that the United States is falling behind the rest of the world. Economically, Industrially, and educationally, the rest of the world pushes forward and welcomes change while the United States clings to what it has known for decades. One of the largest gaps between the US and the rest of the world is its policy about second languages, and it puts the US at a disadvantage. Those who oppose change believe the US can better itself without making secondary language learning mandatory; they argue that it will cost more money, “turn students off” to learning a second language entirely, and that the benefits are not worth the costs. Unless a change is made in the United States’ language education, the country will continue to fall behind. Making learning a second language mandatory not only helps students, but the country as a whole by “raising the bar” and improving the country’s competitiveness with the rest of the world.

Many people against second language learning argue that learning a second language is meaningless because it is never used after learning it and is soon forgotten. The problem is the country’s secondary language education methods. Rather than teaching at a young age, which they should, they make it mandatory at the high school level. Making children learn a second language at a young age is a better method because the earliest years of childhood are a critical period and at a later time, the brain’s ability to learn a new language is greatly diminished (Richards). Another problem is that most often, there isn’t enough repetition of what is learned in order for it to “sink in” to the memory of students. If taught at a young age and maintained throughout that students’ academic career, not...

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Metis, Myriam. "A Cure For Monolingualism." Academic Search Premier. EBSCO, Oct. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .

Richards, J. C., R. Anderson, D. W. Carroll, and A. Radford. "Language Acquisition." Ebscohost. 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. .

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