Language is perhaps the most important part of being a human. It allows us to interact with others, write down our thoughts, and see the world with a unique perspective. It dictates everything we do; it dictates who we talk to, where we live, what we read, what media we get our information from, and ultimately how we will spend our lives. A person who speaks only English will see the world through the eye of the American, Australian, British, and Canadian media. A person who speaks only Spanish will view the world solely through the eye of the Spanish and Latin American mindset. It's not our choice, but simply how it is. Now imagine someone who speaks both languages. They now have access to 2 very different cultures. A part of both but a product of neither. They will naturally have a different international view from the rest of us. Monolingualism in America has always been a very peculiar topic to discuss. We all speak English, the leading world language at the moment. Anyone in any country who wishes to do business outside of their own borders usually must learn English first since the United States and the United Kingdom are such international powerhouses. So who benefits from this arrangement, those who must learn English to succeed, or those native in English who get to coast on through? These days, many in America will begin to claim that the former benefit. They get to become bilingual while we are conditioned to remain monolingual, unable to interact intimately with other countries who don't speak English officially. The issue of the overwhelming majority of Americans being monolingual in an increasingly global society is a major topic these days and what to do about it is hotly contested. There are those who are in fierce support for language reform such as President Barack Obama: "Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English  --  they'll learn English  --  you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.", and those who believe the status quo is ideal, mainly due to funding and lack of immediate need.

So how to fix the monolingual problem? There are many opinions on the issue, the most prominent of which advocate beginning foreign language education as early as kindergarten in our schools. This method has been used for years by several countries in Europe and Asia. The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Hong Kong are the most widely cited examples of this method working. In all of these countries, proficiency in English is over 85%, especially in Hong Kong where it is actually an official language. By starting their foreign language education in pre-school, they learn it along with their native tongue. This allows for near native fluency. "The younger a child is taught a second language the more fluent they will become in the future." A Newsweek article said, "A child taught a second language after the age of 10 or so is unlikely ever to speak it like a native."(Amend) Not only will speaking a second language fluently help with job opportunities later on in a child's career, it has been proven by numerous studies that speaking a second language improves problem solving and critical thinking skills. They are also much better equipped to even learn a third language if they so choose. As stated in my intro, knowing another language allows one to experience another culture. Hebrew professor Adi Raz said that knowledge of a foreign language provides huge cultural benefits. "We don't just teach language but also culture. By doing so we emphasize the importance of understanding the 'other,'" Raz said. The world view of Americans is that we are uncultured and ignorant of what goes on around us. While this is obviously untrue, since we have such a high percentage of us living abroad compared to other countries, many want to see that label removed. Back in the 1800's, many Americans actually spoke another language, however around the First World War, the "American Exceptionalism" movement reached its peak, and speaking only English was seen as being a true American. Foreign language education was removed from schools after that, and now supporters of language reform in schools advocate returning to when bilingualism was necessary.

"What good is being fluent in a language if you never use it?" some schools ask. If the previous suggestion wasn't enough, there have been developments around the country to take foreign language education a step even further. Schools around the United States have been offering language immersion programs which involve spending half the day speaking English and the other half speaking something else. This is a method favored in a few countries around Europe, mainly Switzerland and Belgium. These countries are effectively tri-lingual. In Switzerland, depending on what part, they speak the local language in elementary school (either German, French, or Italian) and supplement it with second/third language education, including English. Around middle school the primary language of instruction switches (again to either German, French, or Italian) and then it switches for final time in high school. After graduating from high school in Switzerland, most students can speak at least German and French, with a good chance of speaking English and Italian. In America the most prominent language used in these schools has been Mandarin Chinese. A quickly growing power in the world economy, and with the most natively spoken language in the world, China is a very important partner to the United States. Proponents of language immersion programs being more widespread claim that with a new generation of children speaking near native level Chinese due to sheer mass exposure, relations with China will skyrocket. Problems with these programs include the high cost involved. As of now, parents of the children who attend these immersion schools are paying heavily to give them the opportunity. Standardizing this practice, maybe not nationwide to start, but at least statewide, would definitely lower the cost and save the citizens and government lots of money.

I asked earlier about to fix the monolingual problem, and some out there argue that it isn't a problem at all. This is America isn't it, should everyone just learn to speak English? America is the leading country for mass media, entertainment, and music in English. We have the most population of any dominant English speaking country in the world by far. On a whole, as a country, we have been getting by just fine by only speaking English, and since we have some many people of different cultures and ethnicities in our country, we can just get them to do the jobs that require second language fluency. Nationalistic arguments aside, budget cuts to foreign language education have been a major stalwart in this issue. As schools have been having funding shortened around the country, foreign language education like Spanish and French are being deemed non-essential. Kids aren't even learning the language very well this far into school anyways so why give them 3 years of something they will just forget in a few years. If they can't find the funding to just keep these classes, then where will the get the funding to improve them.

In all, there are 3 major sides in this issue, 2 are favoring improvement and reform, and 1 is against change of status quo and is even cutting education due to tight budgets. 1 is in favor of starting foreign language education as early as pre-school and kindergarten, and the other is in favor of completely immersing our children in foreign language speaking schools for at least part of the day. Languages in America is a complex and important issue for everyone that resides in this country because it is what defines us. The 8th president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, actually grew up speaking Dutch, and spoke English as a second language, the only president to do so. Back when America was truly a nation of immigrants, as in most of us were first generation, we had one unifying structure: the nationality of Americanism. This nationality brought everyone together regardless of language or ethnicity. It still does this today to an extent, but forcing others to learn our ways is becoming a staple of Americans now. Foreigners must learn English, instead of Americans learning Spanish or French. The main question to ask in this argument is whether we are a melting pot or a salad bowl. A melting pot is the traditional America in a sense. It takes all the cultures and traditions brought to America from the rest of the world and combines them into one unifying culture, American. America being a salad bowl is a newer concept, one that suggests that we instead have all the different cultures of America live side by side, retaining all their cultural elements, being American only in name. There is no answer to what we are right now, but whether we want everyone to speak English and only English, or have American children grow up speaking another language at the cost of a complete educational overhaul is a massive debate. Should we teach other cultures in our schools, other languages in our schools, and early on at that? Or should we integrate everyone into American society, our English speaking society, and keep it as it is. The two sides are not two sides of a coin, or exact opposites, but they are heavily intertwined in the future of our country and society and something every American should think long and hard about.
