Language diversity is important; shouldn’t we have more options to learn? Graphic courtesy of freshman Tessa Roos.

  San Luis Obispo High School requires ten credits of  Foreign Language/Fine Arts/CTE (Career Technical Education) to graduate. If students intend to go on to a four year college or university, California State Universities (CSUs) require two years of a language other than English and Universities of California (UCs) require two years, though three years is preferred. 

Is SLOHS properly offering their students language options that make them competitive candidates for undergraduate programs?

  The five commonly most spoken languages throughout the world are English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French. SLOHS only offers one of these top five for student foreign language requirements: Spanish. While SLOHS provides students with three world language options: Latin, Spanish, and ASL (American Sign Language), some students feel that these are insufficient. 

  Learning a second language can open up more career opportunities. For students living in California, where 28.89 percent of the population are Spanish speakers, it makes sense to offer this as an option. However, when schools only offer a limited number of languages these opportunities shrink for students who aspire to work abroad or in other jobs that require other commonly used languages. 

  According to 3 Foreign Languages High School Students Should Learn, “French is the official language used by many countries in Europe, regions of Canada, as well as many countries in Africa… French is the second most useful language in the world of business.” Clearly if schools want their students to have access to a broad variety of career opportunities, then French should be offered as a foreign language. 

  Forty six percent of high schools across the US offer Spanish, followed by twenty one percent offering French, and eight percent offering German. In our increasingly global economy, universities are attracted to students with diverse language skills. 

  If SLOHS wants to compete with other schools or districts by producing students who are attractive to universities, it would be in their best interest to broaden their scope of language options. 

Sources: lingua.org, americancouncils.org, aralia.com, worldpopulationreview.com