Dear Editor:

As a student at Boothbay Region High School, I feel earlier access to foreign language is needed. Bilinguals have access to more job opportunities (such as flight attendants), and a better understanding of other cultures and societies. Other than the money problem, which has various solutions, there is no reason foreign language shouldn’t be a required class sometime in grades K-8. 

Many people, even those who take four years of foreign language, aren’t anywhere near proficient. Saying “hello” in another language is much different from piecing together whole sentences. If we aren’t proficient or getting close to proficient after two or three years, what is the point of taking foreign language classes?

A change needs to be made to foreign language availability in the K-8 curriculum. A possible solution might be offering some of the more popular foreign languages, depending on student interest, in place of or along with “specials” (gym, library, etc). With the library class ending in sixth grade, this would be an ideal time to start foreign language classes before high school.

Close to 50% of the world’s population speaks two languages, so naturally bilingualism opens up job opportunities on the global scale with multi-regional businesses. Additionally, knowledge of a foreign language brings better understanding of cultures, and can help one break down stereotypes about those cultures.

A counterargument can be made that adding a foreign language is costly, but there are many low cost ways to add foreign language such as online learning programs and foreign language inclusion in an existing curriculum.

In a country where only 20% of the population is bilingual, our elementary and middle schools should help increase that percentage by teaching foreign language (Jay Mathews' Washington Post article “Half of the World is Bilingual. What's our problem?”).

Lucas Hardwick

junior at Boothbay Region High School