Blog #2

Dear editor,

I am writing to you concerning the recent talk of parents, teachers and students wanting to change the Michigan Merit Curriculum. They argue that the two-year foreign language requirement should no longer be required to be met by Michigan students, and I would like you to know that I believe this is a terrible idea, and I am strongly against it. There are multiple reasons why students should be learning a foreign language; for example becoming more cultural sensitive, learning about the world, improving their own English and other more.

First and foremost, when students learn a foreign language, they don’t just learn the language itself, but they also learn about where the language is spoken, and about the people who live there. Through language courses, students are taught about a new culture, different from their own, and furthermore, they learn more about the world around them. There are several advantages to this; when students become more culturally sensitive, they become citizens in our communities who are well informed about the world and can critical think about issues in our society with that world perspective in mind. Someone who has only lived in a Rochester, Grand Rapids, or Allendale setting will not have the same understanding, unless they have traveled globally themselves and got a first hand experience. 

Students who also study a foreign language also improve their own English. They become more aware of what they are speaking when they speak. From my own experience, through the years as I have been studying the German language, as I learned more of the German grammar, I found myself relating it a lot back to English, and came to understand more of the English grammar, without being directly taught it. As my German skills have improved, with that have also my English, and is something that would be beneficial to students.

Learning a foreign language gives you a unique opportunity when compared to other subjects: it puts you on the global job market. By studying a European, Asian, or another type of language, it opens you open to not only a new culture, but new job opportunities as well.

I could list off hundreds of more reasons for learning a foreign language, but rather than that, I implore you to reconsider the fact that you may think students shouldn’t be required to study a new language, because as we become a more global, “flat-world” community, having Americans who speak foreign languages will be essential for us a society in the future.

Best regards / mit freundlichen Grüßen

Herr Michael Bartus