Parlez vous rien: Why require a foreign language that kids won't really learn?

Why require a few, useless years of a foreign language?, asks Fordham's Michael Petrilli. Almost nobody becomes fluent in another language by taking it in school, and the time spent exchanging stilted greetings in French or Spanish could be devoted to studying something students might actually learn. Or getting an extra hour of sleep.

Whether it's a state mandate or pressure from colleges, "let's stop pretending," he writes. Going through the motions of teaching foreign languages contributes to the “bull-shittification” of the American high school. There's no need to keep piling it on, "especially now that people can stick AirPods in their ears and hear what a foreign language speaker is saying."

There are "potential benefits from immersing yourself in a second language and culture," Petrilli writes. It's supposed to be good for the brain. But few students start early enough to make a difference.

Some agree with Petrilli on the futility of "world language" requirements, he writes in a follow-up.

At GEO schools in Indiana, writes Kevin Teasley, students often graduate with a two-year or four-year college degree, but not an honors diploma, because they don't have time for a foreign language.

Others say more elementary schools should offer dual-language immersion programs, which typically mix English-learning and English-only students. "Those programs are extremely effective at supporting English learners" and "they're also popular with English-dominant families," writes Conor Williams. "This is creating pressure on school districts to expand secondary foreign language options. We can’t cut those now." Multilingual teaching "supports immigrant integration, tolerance, and social cohesion; and it’s good economics," he argues.

Sara Mead, also a fan of early dual immersion, suggests changing "licensing and certification requirements to allow schools to hire more people who are native speakers and truly proficient in the language."

I went to an excellent suburban high school that had two French teachers, one of whom spoke both English and French with the accent of the Tennessee hill country. She was also deaf. I realized that if I looked confident, she would assume I was speaking French correctly. My grade in classroom participation went to an "A," which gave me an "A" in the class. It was a valuable lesson, though not a lesson in French. I discovered when I tried to learn Spanish, many years later, that I know a great many French nouns. Verbs, non.

I'd like to see high schools pare down graduation requirements and focus more on raising achievement in core academic classes. Let high achievers take advanced academic classes, career classes or fun electives.