Why We Need Education Reform Towards Foreign Language in America
Hello everyone!
One of the initiatives we’re working on at M&P Inc. is reforming the education system to shift its focus more so on foreign language and culture education. The thing about foreign language education is, unlike other school subjects where you focus on one particular area of study, you can learn ANYTHING. I believe bilingual education is the future. Imagine being able to talk about history, science, or math in two languages! Based on the research I’ve been collecting for our independent research and here are the primary reasons why education reform is essential for our country.
More Job Opportunities
For those of you who speak only English or thought about learning a new language but never started, you’re missing out on so many opportunities! Being multilingual, I felt limitless when applying for jobs after finishing my programs. At one point after college, my recruiter told me “I’ll send over your resume, but this client insisted they need someone who speaks Spanish” and my response was “Oh yeah that's fine” instead of “Oh never mind”. You’re even missing out on money that could be added to your salary by about 10-15% without having to do too much extra labor except communicating in two languages! In 2017, a report from the New American Economy said between 2010 and 2015 the number of job listings for bilingual workers nearly tripled from around 200,000 to over 600,000! I can only imagine how much those numbers have possibly grown today. The demand is getting higher as we’re living in a globalized world with constant daily international communication. Also, it’s important not to underestimate the importance of translation and interpretation workers; sometimes I think we take for granted how much our world is accessible to us because of the people who work in this field.
Existing Immigration and Multilingualism
It’s now perceived as ignorant to say things like “This is America, we speak English” which is becoming less true since we have a large population of immigrants; many of which might have descendants that are American citizens who want to keep their languages alive in their families. Over centuries of the United States ‘ existence, people have come from all over and they’ve settled in certain areas. From living in metropolitan cities like Los Angeles and having been to New York City, there are areas like Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and Little Ethiopia where certain groups of people flock.
In Los Angeles, a large part of the population speaks Spanish, and they do so unapologetically since California and many other states in the Sunbelt region were Spanish or Mexican territories at some point in history. Even though the United States now owns these territories, that doesn’t mean the previous languages just go away. I’ve witnessed people coming from everywhere to study abroad or do business in the US, so it’s normal to see people speaking one language to their Starbucks barista and another on the phone to their colleagues somewhere else. So it’s unrealistic to have a “we speak English” mentality, and I generally think it’s rude to ask someone (who’s not talking to you) to speak English based on the arguments I just made. Our interactions with foreign languages are becoming more integrated into our society.
International Business
Did you know that America actually LOSES money because of language barriers and cultural misunderstandings? Yes! Nearly $2 billion every year! The U.S. Department of Education stated that 1 in 5 American jobs are linked to international trade.
As an example, my favorite airline is Delta Airlines and I’ve flown with them and their international partners. Pre-pandemic, international travel is a big part of their services and Delta has hired thousands of LOD (Language of Destination) flight attendants because they cater to an international clientele. After college, I was a Lyft driver for a few months before finding my first job, and I picked up several flight attendants and pilots. In 2019, one of them told me Delta was planning on hiring roughly 3,000 attendants for French LOD! LOD attendants are paid higher hourly wages, they work more hours (depending on the distance) than those working domestic flights. Could you imagine desperately needing bilinguals/multilinguals when your company works with so many airports, partnering airlines, hotels, and other hospitality businesses around the globe? Not to mention, they usually have international contracts in which they need to understand, not only the language but the culture as well as international laws and policies.
From a more day-to-day perspective, if you enjoy going to Trader Joe’s, you might notice part of their wine selection is imported from other countries. It’s the same thing if you love their pizza! When you flip the box over you’ll see the country of origin like “made in Italy”. There’s one brand made in a French region close to Germany. Trader Joe’s probably has contracts with international suppliers since Trader Joe’s is both a distributor and a retailer. Don’t be too far removed from where your food and beverages come from because you might be surprised a language and culture barrier was crossed for it to end up on your local grocery shelves.
Diplomacy and International Humanitarianism
Looking at foreign diplomacy within the federal government, what is the President of the United States supposed to do when he needs to communicate with our allies in non-English speaking countries? What about adversaries to avoid major conflicts? Who informs the president about protocols when visiting another world leader to avoid moments where Trump walked in front of the Queen of England and angered an entire country? What about when we’re in a global health crisis and we, along with our allies, need to work collaboratively on vaccines? What about when a natural disaster occurs abroad and foreign aid is necessary but the doctors can’t understand what their patients need? If you’re a missionary, how can you expect someone in a foreign country to come to Jesus when they can’t understand a word you’re saying? In many of these scenarios, these could be life or death situations where multilingualism is crucial.
Travel Experiences
I feel like this is an obvious one. Foreign language education can grant students opportunities to study or work abroad. When traveling to countries where English isn’t an official language, it makes a world of difference to be able to read, not play charades while trying to find information from locals, make friends, or even be able to travel outside of tourist areas where English won’t help you at all. Since cultural competency is just as important as the language itself, you can avoid situations where you can be perceived negatively. Over the years of mastering French, I found out that French people don’t talk to strangers on the metro and remain pretty quiet. Being loud and obnoxious can make you a target for pickpockets by not acknowledging the status quo. As another example, Germans are very punctual so be on time, if not early, especially in professional settings. From personal experience, regardless of why you’re there, knowing the target language and culture will ensure you have the best experiences possible for locals to treat you well.
Better learners
Research is showing how knowledge of two or more languages can increase the brain’s ability to process information. That’s practically what we do in school all day; our brains are processing and trying to understand the information it’s received. You’re likely to see higher levels of concentration, higher retention of information, and the ability to concentrate and filter out useless information. I was taking an online course from the University of Groningen for Multilingual Practices on the Future Learn platform, and they mentioned how bilinguals and multilinguals are more likely to successfully pass The Stroop Test than monolinguals.
Higher levels of empathy and social tolerance
I saved this for last as from personal experience this is one of the most important. When you know to step outside your own language and culture, it changes your perspective on how you perceive those who are different from you. After having learned eight languages up to this point, I realized we’re all saying the same thing but it just sounds different. When you’re learning a new language, it teaches you to listen before you speak and read before you write. It also puts you in the shoes of what a non-English speaking immigrant goes through every day as they’re grasping their new target language. I know that racism and immigration are hot topics in this country, but by learning a new language with its culture, you start to better understand people. You may think someone is shy or standoffish, but then you find out they just aren’t 100% comfortable speaking your native language, but you just so happen to be learning their native language. In making an effort to communicate with this person, you might find out they’re much more interesting than you thought they were and develop a connection you wouldn’t have been able to make otherwise.
On a macro and a micro scale, it’s not about teaching students how to speak a foreign language to sound impressive, it’s about teaching them someone else’s way of life to broaden the number of people they can communicate with.