How effective is learning a foreign language in high school? Not very. According to “America’s Lacking Language Skills,” an article by Amelia Friedman for The Atlantic, “less than 1 percent of American adults today are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in a U.S. classroom.” What’s one way to remedy this? Beginning foreign language instruction earlier. For the average American student, foreign language instruction doesn’t begin until high school. Only a small percentage of people remember everything that they learned in a high school foreign language class. Everything they learned just didn’t stick and they gradually forgot everything. Students should begin foreign language instruction in kindergarten because it is easier for young children to learn, has many benefits as the students get …show more content…
Learning a foreign language has been shown to increase understanding of the native language and make learning a third easier. Researchers at the University of Haifa state that “fluency and skills in one language assist in the language acquisition of a second language, and possessing skills in two languages can boost the learning process of a third language.” Imagine a world in which there is no racism. There would be much less hate in the world and it would be a better place. Learning a foreign language could potentially help with that. It can increase cultural knowledge, which could lead to a decrease in racial bias. According to Leonardo De Valoes, an adjunct professor at Trinity Washington University, “(It) opens the door to an entire network of people that a person might not have had contact with before. It allows for an exchange of cultural norms and practices, furthering one’s education in respect to life different to their own.” This means that knowing