High School drops French and German instruction, keeps Spanish - in response to changing demographics

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Should teach Mandarin and Cantonese. World business is conducted in English and Chinese.

don't forget Japanese and the rise of Hindi in business.

Why learn Spanish? Force the ones here who speak Spanish and not English to learn English

Err.... and this relates to the original post how exactly?

Allowing our children to remain monolingual in a global knowledge based economy is not giving them an edge, a basic skill for success in pretty much ANY wokrplace or area of expertise they choose when they grow up. Students NEED a second language. Which one would it be is not up to me (and sometimes is of no consequence); but arguing for monolingualism only portrays anachronism and close-mindedness.

[Alex+R 0]

Should teach Mandarin and Cantonese. World business is conducted in English and Chinese.

don't forget Japanese and the rise of Hindi in business.

Why learn Spanish? Force the ones here who speak Spanish and not English to learn English

Err.... and this relates to the original post how exactly?

Allowing our children to remain monolingual in a global knowledge based economy is not giving them an edge, a basic skill for success in pretty much ANY wokrplace or area of expertise they choose when they grow up. Students NEED a second language. Which one would it be is not up to me (and sometimes is of no consequence); but arguing for monolingualism only portrays anachronism and close-mindedness.

You tell it.

[lucyrich 20]

Allowing our children to remain monolingual in a global knowledge based economy is not giving them an edge, a basic skill for success in pretty much ANY wokrplace or area of expertise they choose when they grow up. Students NEED a second language. Which one would it be is not up to me (and sometimes is of no consequence); but arguing for monolingualism only portrays anachronism and close-mindedness.

True! Anytime Americans deal with people who aren't native speakers of English, somebody's got to do the translation. The translators will either be supplied by our culture or their culture. If all the translators all belong to the other culture, then we've just given them a tremendous edge in the negotiations. If none of our diplomats understand the foreign language and culture, it'll be hard for them to be perceived as diplomatic.

This goes not only for friendly business deals, but for conflicts, as well. We can't infiltrate organizations and spy on governments if we don't speak their language, but if they speak ours, you can bet they know how to spy on us. It's no coincidence that the 9/11 hijackers were all at least bilingual, and very few native-born American speakers of English could even name the language they used for their planning, much less speak it.

It's a matter of national security that we should have at least some of our children learning even "minor" languages from around the world.

[britty 1]

I think Spanish should form part of the US elementary school curriculum. Kids have the ability to learn much faster than adults, and being at least bilingual can only be a benefit to them in later life. I do think that there should be choices in high school for language study, but I also appreciate that this has to be limited due to financial constraints. It wouldn't be cost effective to offer a choice of say 10 languages as there may need to be up to 10 different teachers for this purpose. Ultimately, the business world conducts itself in English, but it is dependent upon the career path each child wishes to take as to whether only English is required. My friend in the UK sent her son to a Montessori (sp?) nursery in London when he was 18 months and now at 4, his command of French is excellent.

[wishbone 0]

Well, the more language one knows, the better, including the sign language.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Amber, I hear you but the board is on to something here. French and German are simply not relevant anymore.

I wonder the French and the Germans would have to say about that? Oh wait. They can't say anything, can they? Their language isn't relevant anymore. Silly me.

Its not really relevant to people in the US. Spanish is undeniably more useful than French or German.

At my high school we got the choice of learning Spanish or French - but living very near speakers of both of those languages ensured that they actually had useful, practical application.

I think Sign Language should be available in schools.

Very good point. I really wish I would have had that opportunity in school. Notepads get old.

On a side note, a deaf girl I used to hang out with would always sit next to you with her hand on the guitar while you played. There was something oddly erotic about it. She would just sit there with her eyes closed, feeling the vibrations in the body of the guitar.

We did - learned sign language at primary school.

[eekee 182]

My parents forced me to learn Spanish in school, when I wanted to take French instead. I took nine years of Spanish, remember almost none of it, and use Russian every day, a language which people probably would have told me was useless in comparision with Spanish. You never know will your life will take you... Spanish may not necessarily be useful for these kids' lives in the long run. I definitely think that children should learn at least one foreign language, but I don't think it necessarily has to be Spanish.

[panamania79 2]

Stacey Bousellam's daughters studied Spanish, French and German in Spotswood schools and have enjoyed the variety.

But the diversity in the district's world language program may be dropped because the board of education is considering eliminating French and German beginning in 2011 and only offering Spanish at the high school.

...

The board of education is considering paring down the program because they believe all students need to learn Spanish as a result of America's changing demographics, said Superintendent John Krewer.

"We looked at the demographics and the percentage of people speaking Spanish, and learning Spanish will make them more marketable and competitive," he said.

...

Spotswood parent Gail Dress said students should have a choice in the language they learn.

"I understand it's practical," Dress said of Spanish, "but they should be able to learn what they want."

Her daughter, Debra, a sophomore, enjoys learning Spanish, but said students shouldn't be forced to take it.

...

Spotswood's high school students are only required to take one year of a foreign language, but the board is considering changing it to two years. The goal is to encourage students to take a foreign language three to four years, Krewer said.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/middlesex/in....xml&coll=1

People should learn as many languages as they can.Take it from me,when you like to talk as much as I do,different languages come in handy.As far as that school goes,they should not eliminate any language.In Europe people speak at least 3,why can't we ?

[panamania79 2]

Should teach Mandarin and Cantonese. World business is conducted in English and Chinese.

don't forget Japanese and the rise of Hindi in business.

Why learn Spanish? Force the ones here who speak Spanish and not English to learn English

Err.... and this relates to the original post how exactly?

Allowing our children to remain monolingual in a global knowledge based economy is not giving them an edge, a basic skill for success in pretty much ANY wokrplace or area of expertise they choose when they grow up. Students NEED a second language. Which one would it be is not up to me (and sometimes is of no consequence); but arguing for monolingualism only portrays anachronism and close-mindedness.

Thank you !

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

An update:

French, German back on books

Home News Tribune Online 02/15/08

SPOTSWOOD — After a rash of complaints from parents, the school board has decided to reinstate the French and German language programs in the district.

...

"The board listened to community input, and the survey responses were reviewed by board committees. As a result of your feedback, our students will continue to have choices of French, German and Spanish at the high school for the foreseeable future," the board said in a letter sent to parents on Wednesday.

[Imua 0]

Kids should learn Latin like I did in 7th and 8th grades - it helped immensely when I studied Spanish, French and Italian in high school and college. It even helped a bit with German. I also wish I had studied ancient Greek and Sanskrit - these languages will make any further study of Indo-European languages much easier. Now I am really wishing I had learned Sanskrit since I am struggling to learn Nepali, which, like Hindi, is based on Sanskrit the way Spanish is based on Latin.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Pattu Rani

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

PR, Sanskrit is much more difficult to learn than Hindi is. I expect that's true for Nepali too.

[Imua 0]

PR, Sanskrit is much more difficult to learn than Hindi is. I expect that's true for Nepali too.

I think Nepali is the easiest of the lot, actually - unlike Hindi and Sanskrit, nouns do not have gender, except for obvious ones which refer to people, so adjectives do not need to agree with nouns the way they do in Hindi(and German and all of the Romance languages). Also verb tenses are not so rigid - the present tense is used for future very commonly if the meaning is obvious, for example. Someday I want to study Hindi in depth if only so I can understand Bollywood dialogue - but for now I have my hands full with Nepali - when I go to KTM I want to be able to actually have a conversation with my inlaws...

[pedroh 21]

in HS half our classes were in english, half in spanish, plus another foreign language, so most of my generation were fluent in english plus basic skills in either french or german..