|
Excerpt from The News Journal, May 28, 2006 - By Michelle Besso
The Christina School District, the state's largest district, will require students to complete one year of a foreign language -- starting with the class of 2009 -- as part of its improved graduation requirements, spokeswoman Wendy Lapham said.
"Knowledge of a second language is an incredible asset in today's global marketplace ... especially among our students majoring in international business," said Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN correspondent and professor of communication at the University of Delaware.
"The U.S. must today train its next generations to deal easily with people who know much more about us than we know about them," he said, adding that his high school and college French was useful, even when reporting from Russia, the Middle East, and African countries.
The Pike Creek business college doesn't require a foreign language for admission, but does offer Spanish electives for specific areas of career study.
Dorothy Shelton, supervisor of curriculum and instruction for foreign language in the Capital School District -- which offers Spanish, French, Latin and Japanese at Dover High School, and Spanish in middle schools -- said it should be a no-brainer: Students need to be prepared to enter a changing work force where fluency in a foreign language -- particularly an Asian language -- will give them a competitive edge.
"Every other country speaks English, so why shouldn't we, in return, learn to speak their language?" said Shelton, of the Capital district. "It's a respect thing. Many foreign kids here are already taking another language."
|
