Have you ever found yourself in a conversational encounter where you couldn’t understand the person you were trying to communicate with? Because our society is so diverse, these circumstances are not uncommon. Today we live in an environment that allows us the opportunity to learn secondary languages and interact with different cultures, enabling us to break down language and cultural barriers.

Language barriers have placed the instruction of foreign language at an educational priority. At all levels of academic curriculum from elementary to college, language is a primary subject. According to the California State Board of Education, since 1994 teachers in grades as low as Kindergarten have been required to teach students English subjects. In addition, students in high school are required to complete both four years of English studies, as well as two years of foreign language studies.

Letters, words and sounds are applied to curriculum in order to help in the development of vocabulary skills and the comprehension of simple forms of language. In grades K-5 the incorporation of secondary languages is not mandatory to excel to the next grade, but this does not mean that foreign language is not necessary to excel within society.

Currently, students at California State University Sacramento whose catalog is Fall 1992 or later have a general education requirement of foreign language in order to graduate. This requirement can be met either before or after entering college. Before entering college students can meet the foreign language requirement by either having completed a third year of foreign language while in high school with a grade of “C-” or better, having graduated from a secondary school where the language of instruction is not English, scoring a three, four or five on the Advanced Placement Foreign Language Examination or by the completion of two semesters of a foreign language at a community college or university with a grade of “C-” or better. After entering college students can complete the requirement by either having passed intermediate-level tests in two of four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking – and one of the tests passed must be in reading or writing, passing an advanced-level proficiency test in reading or completing the second semester or equivalent (1B) of college-level language (or American Sign Language) course with a grade of “C-” or better.

Because our campus and most importantly economics is so greatly diversified, learning foreign languages is an important key to excelling within our society, which is why I agree with the universities foreign language requirements. We as students are preparing to be the next generation of leaders, our ability to continue to diversify our schools, our communities, our politics and our economy relies heavily on breaking foreign language and cultural barriers.

Learning about another culture gives us students an understanding and sense of relation with communities outside our own nationalities. The foreign language requirement at our school will not only benefit us personally with greater social skills, but it will also help us in gaining greater, more effective communication skill.

While fulfilling our general education objective, we must not look at our foreign language requirement as a requirement, but more so as an opportunity to enable ourselves as leaders of tomorrow to further educational efforts in diversifying communication.

Talecia Bell can be reached at [email protected]