Issues in Education

To meet the needs of today's global economy, some states are now requiring that all students learn a foreign language.

But Pennsylvania has decided that such a mandate would be "irresponsible," because it would cost too much and because there are too few certified foreign language instructors, said state board of education Chairman Karl Girton.

After years of debate, the board last month voted to drop a proposal that would have required all students to have at least survival skills in a modern foreign language or meet other standards in a classical one.

Throughout most of the 20th century, the United States had the best-educated workforce in the world - but this is simply no longer the case. As the developing world's workforce grows younger and better educated, the U.S. workforce is becoming smaller and older, more diverse but less well-educated. It's well known that American students are falling behind their counterparts in other countries, especially in math and science. Little known is the alarming fact that the number of American students studying a foreign language has declined sharply.

Though educators have long understood the value of learning a foreign language, for most of us, studying one in school was an "extra." Taking Spanish, French, or German was a pleasant diversion from English and math, and we thought we might use what we learned one day when we traveled.

Times - and the world - have changed. Globalization has blurred our borders and expanded our horizons. In today's global economy, foreign language skills have become vital to our children's future as members of the workforce and to our nation's future success in the world.

Get smart about Spanish
Article by Ruth Sheehan, (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer , May 3, 2007

At J.Y. Joyner Elementary School in Raleigh, every child, from kindergarten through the fifth grade, receives Spanish instruction every day, five days a week, 45 minutes per day.

A State Board of Education committee agreed Tuesday to drop requirements that high school students take two years of foreign languages. Officially, the foreign language requirements will only be delayed, but no date was set for when they'd be implemented.

Wales watching
There is a part of the UK where languages aren't in freefall
and bilingualism is the norm
Article by Diane Hofkins, The Guardian, May 1, 2007

In the classroom, year 5 and 6 children answer the register with "prynhawn da" (good afternoon), and the teacher praises achievement with "da iawn!" (well done). Like Jones, or Owen Glendower, the Welsh tongue is part of the children's national heritage, and they identify with it. "People want to learn their language," says 11-year-old Laura. Notices around the Cardiff school are in English and Welsh, and crib sheets remind teachers to use Welsh phrases such as "bo bol bach!" (literally, it means "little people") instead of English ones such as "goodness gracious!".

Across the Severn, Lord Dearing's report, published in March, has strengthened the government's commitment to the teaching of foreign languages in English primary schools.

The future is here. It's multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual. But are students ready for it?

The world into which today's high school students will graduate is fundamentally different from the one in which many of us grew up. We're increasingly living in a globalized society that has a whole new set of challenges. Four trends have brought us here.

The first trend is economic. The globalization of economies and the rise of Asia are central facts of the early 21st century. Since 1990, 3 billion people in China, India, and the former Soviet Union have moved from closed economies into a global one. The economies of China, India, and Japan, which represented 18 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004, are expected to represent 50 percent of the world's GDP within 30 years (Wilson, 2005). One in five U.S. jobs is now tied to international trade, a proportion that will continue to increase (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Moreover, most U.S. companies expect the majority of their growth to be in overseas markets, which means they will increasingly require a workforce with international competence. According to the Committee for Economic Development (2006),

To compete successfully in the global marketplace, both U.S.-based multinational corporations as well as small businesses increasingly need employees with knowledge of foreign languages and cultures to market products to customers around the globe and to work effectively with foreign employees and partners in other countries.

Science and technology are changing the world and represent a second trend. In The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman (2005) describes how the “wiring of the world” and the digitization of production since 1998 are making it possible for people to do increasing amounts of work anywhere and anytime. Global production teams are becoming commonplace in business. In addition, scientific research, a key driver of innovation, will increasingly be conducted by international teams as other countries ramp-up their scientific capacity.

The third trend involves health and security matters. Every major issue that people face—from environmental degradation and global warming, to pandemic diseases, to energy and water shortages, to terrorism and weapons proliferation—has an international dimension. Solving these problems will require international cooperation among governments, professional organizations, and corporations. Also, as the line between domestic and international affairs blurs, U.S. citizens will increasingly vote and act on issues—such as alternative energy sources or security measures linked to terrorism—that require a greater knowledge of the world. In response to this need, a 2006 report from the National Association of State Boards of Education recommends infusing classroom instruction with a strong global perspective and incorporating discussions of current local, national, and international issues and events.

The fourth trend is changing demographics. Globalization has accelerated international migration. New immigrants from such regions as Asia and Central and South America are generating a diversity in U.S. communities that mirrors the diversity of the world. Knowledge of other cultures will help students understand and respect classmates from different countries and will promote effective leadership abroad.

In short, U.S. high school graduates will

Sell to the world.
Buy from the world.
Work for international companies.
Manage employees from other cultures and countries.
Collaborate with people all over the world in joint ventures.
Compete with people on the other side of the world for jobs and markets.
Tackle global problems, such as AIDS, avian flu, pollution, and disaster recovery (Center for International Understanding, 2005).

However, U.S. schools are not adequately preparing students for these challenges. Surveys conducted by the Asia Society (2002) and National Geographic-Roper (2002) indicated that, compared with students in nine other industrialized countries, U.S. students lack knowledge of world geography, history, and current events. And shockingly few U.S. students learn languages that large numbers of people speak, such as Chinese (1.3 billion speakers) and Arabic (246 million speakers).

Many countries in Europe and Asia are preparing their students for the global age by raising their levels of education attainment; emphasizing international knowledge, skills, and language acquisition; and fostering respect for other cultures. The United States must create its own education response to globalization, which should include raising standards, increasing high school and college graduation rates, and modernizing and internationalizing the curriculum.

Even second and third generation immigrant children with English as their stronger language could benefit.