Over this past week, while reading my high school’s newspaper, ‘The Tower’, I came across a detailed article about the percentage of people in Princeton that speak different languages. An overwhelming amount—about 40%—only speak one language. It is important to note that Princeton, NJ, is a wealthy town with a average household income of around $244,000 and has one of the best public schools in the state, largely thanks to its close ties with Princeton University. Seeing as how, economic factors usually have a larger impact on the quality of education and the fact that Princeton, as a community, does not lack the funds, the results of the survey were quite surprising.
How many people in the US can confidently say that they speak more than one language? Less than 20% of the US population actually can. It is worthy to note that, according to a study at Cambridge University, 65% of the world’s population can speak two or more languages fluently. As one of the world’s biggest countries and one of the world’s biggest economies and most developed nations, the fact that so little of our population is fluent in more than one language is truly devastating and a barrier to global progress.
Only 7% of college students in America enroll in a language course
Time and time again, education leaders, legislators, and politicians have met to try and solve this massive hindrance, but time and time again they have failed to give language departments across the country the necessary funding. Year after year, we see further cost cuts in the national budget, which ultimately take a toll on the less important subjects, as viewed by these politicians and legislators. The issue is that the importance of language learning has not been implemented as a sufficient need in this country and has become a topic that is ‘up for debate’. That simply isn’t right. As one article published by The Atlantic explains, “Advocates and educators disagree about whether it’s a worthwhile investment—whether it’s something that produces a greater return than Furthermore, there are discussions taking place about which particular languages to prioritize.
Of those 7%, 95% are European language enrollments.
I think the question is not whether they are useful, but rather which ones are most useful. It is undeniable that language learning is a practical skill that one can use for many things outside of school and that it can be a profitable investment for the state, even though that may not be as direct. An increase in language learning will open up opportunities for expatriates, money being brought in, etc. Overall, it will further expand the global reach that the US already has around the world while educating its people and continuing to set an example for the many countries that do follow in the US’s footsteps.
Citations
https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/08540/
Grosjean, F. (2021, May 1). The Extent of Bilingualism (Chapter 2) – Life as a Bilingual. Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108975490.003
Friedman, A. (2015, May 10). America’s Lacking Language Skills. America’s Lacking Language Skills – the Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/filling-americas-language-education-potholes/392876/
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