Learning secondary languages may seem like a required elective for most High School students. Checking it off as a required entry to college is rewarding but what students seem to look past is the future opportunities an elective such as Spanish, French and German open for students.

While foreign languages are offered as electives in high school, students still seem to disregard the advantages of such courses because of the believed challenge the classes may bring. Recognizing these classes as an “advanced” course is what can cause misinterpretations and steer students away from seeing how important simple foreign language classes are to our society’s future.

In the US, our society is growing day by day and so is the culture of this country. Learning a secondary language does not only advance one’s ability to help our growing population of immigrants, but to also understand the evolving cultures. According to the United States Census, 68 million people in the US speak a language other than English at home in 2019 and that number had then tripled since 1980. 62% of those people were Spanish speakers.

Being able to understand and grow within the multicultural community in our country is one thing, but the job opportunities are beyond limitations. Being bilingual or multilingual earns a human 5-20% more on average than a monolingual according to Workforce Essentials. Bilingualism is a skill employers seek because of the diversity seen in our country. Not only does speaking a secondary language connect you more with today’s society but it introduces you to a multitude of upper hands.

Being culturally knowledgeable may seem simple, but being able to understand the different horizons of our world today can expand someone’s cognitive skills and complexion and help them recognize today’s society’s structure in a deeper manner. 

According to Carmarthenshire County Council, children who are bilingual tend to be more successful in education. This is not to say that being multilingual, people are commonly above average smart, but it contributes to the fact that learning a second language expands one’s brain capacity to view the world from a more creative and flexible perspective.

Why take a language course in High School? Children’s brains are still developing therefore their unconscious system is still up and running. UNRIC states that conscious learning mechanisms don’t develop up until adolescence, yet the conscious memory tends to affect natural learning processes such as language acquisition making it easier to learn a second language while young.

Our country’s culture is evolving day to day; the need to learn a second language is becoming more crucial; foreign language classes at schools are being seen as a “credit in need to be checked off”; students are missing out on an opportunity of a literal lifetime. Taking Spanish, German and or French is not just a two year requirement for college but a lifetime opportunity for success.