By: Kloe Adams

Humor Editor

Growing up, my cousins from Germany would visit my family and me, and sometimes we would visit them in Germany. No matter where we were though, I always relied on them being able to speak English instead of me being able to speak German. I didn’t think much of this until around seventh grade when I started learning a foreign language: French. I was about 12 years old when I started learning French; however, my cousins, in contrast, started learning a second language when they were about 6 years old. 

My cousins weren’t an exception however. According to Pew Research Center, “[A]cross Europe, students typically begin studying their first foreign language as a required school subject between the ages of 6 and 9.” Starting to learn a foreign language at a younger age gives students more years of learning and practicing, which is why my cousins have been able to have conversations with me in English at a young age, despite their first language being German. 

Now that I’m older with harder classes — which means more work and less free time — trying to find the time to concentrate on learning a foreign language is difficult and I feel far from fluent despite my four years of learning. This is why I wish that more U.S schools would make learning a foreign language a mandatory requirement in elementary school, as kids would be able to focus with greater intent on learning it. 

The main difference between the U.S and other developed nations is the flexibility of the American schooling system. In the U.S, the state government (or school district) mandates foreign language language requirements, while in the majority of Europe students have to learn a second language from a young age because of the federal curriculum which is the national law. With school districts getting power over whether or not they require a foreign language, some students get a lot of exposure, while others get no exposure whatsoever. To make up for the loss, many colleges in the U.S require foreign language credits for admission, which forces many students to take a language during high school. Still, these differences in government involvement leave countries in Europe teaching 92 percent of children a second language, while in the U.S it’s just 20 percent.  

I do think that a second language should be taught to kids at a younger age, but also because being bilingual can lead to well-developed cognitive skills. According to a study by Viorica Marian and Anthony Shook at Northwestern University, “Bilingual people often perform better than monolingual people at tasks that tap into inhibitory control ability. Bilingual people are also better than monolingual people at switching between two tasks.” Inhibitory control can help kids from a young age think thoroughly about a situation and react appropriately. 

While being bilingual helps set children up for success in school, it also helps them perform good behavioral habits and be able to communicate with people from other countries, which is why kids in the U.S should start learning a foreign language when they are younger.

(Sources: KSS, LancasterOnline, and Pew Research Center)