Saturday, September 1, 2012
Foreign Language classes are a great way for students, especially at the university level, to get a better idea about another country or culture as well as learn tolerance for all different lifestyles. Global awareness is a vital part of a person's development, and having a requirement in some sort of a foreign language would ensure this and help mold a more tolerant society. On the other hand, students with engineering and other technical degrees would have a hard time fitting such "unnecessary" classes into their busy course load. Having such a requirement for these degrees would lead to uninterested classrooms and a lot of dead weight. Therefore, I think that a foreign language requirement should be left to students seeking a related degree or one that would benefit from these classes, this would keep participation and willingness to learn a lot higher throughout the entire department.
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I agree completely. My boyfriend is a Computer Science major and he had to take a Spanish class last semester. He'd had enough of it in high school to not have any trouble in the class, but he just generally didn't want to be there.
ReplyDeleteI agree that if foreign language classes were only required for those who were seeking a related degree - the environment of the classroom would be very beneficial. Since the students actually want to be there, the class can move at a higher rate. Students who are forced to take foreign language classes don't participate and aren't motivated to progress - holding students who are interested back.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that those seeking a related degree would benefit more from foreign language classes, I do not think that only they should be forced to have the requirement. To me, a requirement needs to be an all or none sort of deal. Who is to say which fields are the most relevant? Even a math teacher could benefit from speaking a second language, because being bilingual is a life skill rather than simply an academic one.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that foreign language classes should be seen as "unnecessary" for any major. Michelle brings up an excellent point, who decides which fields are the most relevant? Being bilingual or familiar with another language is a truly a life skill, not just a academic one. As an American I am sad that more people do not speak another language here and see the importance of teaching their children a foreign language. More than a few of my friends didn't see any reason to continue studying a language in college.
ReplyDeleteAs a very bad joke goes:
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? ...
American