English Only

Speaking another language apart from English in the United States is often looked down upon. Majority of Americans are by no means bilingual. Hispanic and Asian communities have continued to speak in their native tongues in the presence of their community. The more culturally diverse a country gets, the more languages will get integrated into its society. America has been very stubborn with integrating other languages besides english.

Dispite what people think, learning more then one lanuage might be beneficial. It is no secret that Americans lack behind acidemically compared to European countries. I had friends who lived in South Africa and they needed to know not only English, but French and Afrikaans as well. My father is hispanic, but I was never raised speaking Spanish. I regret not learning when I was little, not only because there is a lot of Spanish in my life that I can not engage in, but also because I feel like I am missing out on so many experiences that are just passed of as foreign and not worth the time of us English-speakers.

Percentage of populations that onlyspeak English.

A big problem is that it is not a heavy influence in schools. Two years of Spanish in high school will make you as fluent as the average hispanic four year old, and majority of the students who take the classes will forget ninety percent of what they have learned. Trying to learn a new language an hour each day, unwillingly, to students who have been fluent in only English their entire lives, will only it make nothing more to them than pointless busywork with no relation to real life, like their algebra homework. 

The main reason people do not want to integrate other languages is because they are either unimformed or not willing to learn. Laziness might be the biggest factor contributing to English Only policies. If the United States decides to initiate more languages into our society it must be done through education. People are more likely to learn a language if they begin while they are young, that is why adults find it so challenging. If children in grade school are reqcired to learn another language in adition to learning English, then it might stick better with them. Learning other languages can help people grow more familiar with other countries and cultures, and diminish the prejudices against other nationalities. It would also increase our foreign relations and diplomacy. Though in America being bilingual can often be looked down upon, unless purely recreational, in other countries it is considered very prestigious and respected. If a President was fluent in several languages, then he would probally be more relatable and accepted globally.

Having children learn multiple languages through out the course of their schooling would make them more fluent and more efficient acidemically. Instead of trying to force bilingualism upon the stubborn adults who refuse to learn, it can be integrated into our culture through the education of our youth. The solution would take time, but the more generations pass through schooling, the more languages would become more integrated throughout our society.