The New Mandatory

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The New Mandatory
“What happens if you eat yeast and shoe polish?”
I know, I know. Your eyebrows are furrowed and there is a confused look on your face, but stay with me for just a moment. This is the exact question that my Spanish teacher asked the class on the first day of school. Everyone in class looked at each other and thought to ourselves is he crazy? The first question of the school year and it is about yeast and shoe polish!
“Does anybody have a guess?” Señor inquired. “No? Alright I will tell you the answer. Every morning you will rise and shine!”
There was no way that was going to happen! Especially during the first period of the school day! That is what was going through my head at the moment and that is exactly what happened my freshman year of high school. I would show up to class and listen to the teacher try and teach the class Spanish but I never gave the language a chance to sink in. Now that I am a senior I look back on that year and regret that I didn’t apply myself to learn a foreign language. There are countless opportunities that passed me by because of my un-persevering will to learn. Learning a foreign language will forever be uncrossed off on my bucket list. Reflecting upon the past I now know that although learning a second language is difficult, foreign language should be implemented into elementary student’s core curriculum as it is easier to learn when young, increases academic performance, and extends job opportunities.
A common thought shared by countless people of the world is that learning a foreign language is a thorough waste of precious time. Elementary students across the United States have an already intensive course curriculum, should it really be made more challenging? It is true tha...

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...t is challenging to put a foreign language program into action, it is possible to do if individuals are determined. Despite the popular belief that studying a foreign language is a waste of time, a multilingual student has additional possibilities to their lifetime than someone who is monolingual. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than one in five school-aged children (21%) speak a language other than English at home. That number of bilingual speakers is projected to increase in the coming years (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association). It is time for educationalists to set the future generations up for extraordinary success. My dream is that students of the future will be prepared to live in our ever-changing and demanding world. Hopefully one day no one will look at their past and regret not acquiring foreign language skills.

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