Foreign Languages
Today was the first class of my SPAN 240, Introduction to Latin American Literature. Everything’s in Spanish, and it’s going to be pretty hardcore, but I’m really excited for the class. In fact, I’m disappointed that we only meet once a week; it should be at least three.
But this brings me to another point; the lack of foreign language instruction in America’s public education system. Almost every other country in the world teaches English, but American doesn’t teach any foreign languages, which thus puts us at a serious disadvantage, especially for businesses that seek to expand into the emerging markets of the world, outside the BRIC.
I therefore propose that America begin teaching either Chinese, Arabic, or Spanish, starting in the first grade. By the time students graduate from high school, with mandatory foreign language instruction in every year of school, they should be relatively fluent in another language.
Me gusta espanol.