Should Schools Stop Requiring Foreign Language Classes?

Hoping to free up more options for students when it comes to high school electives, the House Education Committee approved two bills in Lansing on Tuesday that would eliminate the foreign language requirement for graduation.

Currently the following languages are taught at high schools in Shelby Township and Utica:

• French, German, Japanese and Spanish at Eisenhower.
• French, German, Japanese and Spanish at Utica.

By eliminating the two-year foreign language requirement, the proposal hopes to give students not headed to college more vocational options in school, but the Michigan Department of Education opposes the bill, according to the Detroit News.

"Students, regardless of post-secondary plans, will benefit tremendously with at least one additional language to be competitive in the global marketplace," spokesman Martin Ackley said in the report. "World languages is essential for all of our students."

House Bills 4465-4466 would also modify required credits in physical education, the arts, career and technical education, science and math, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.

The bill awaits a full house vote.

Readers were asked on the Shelby-Utica Patch Facebook page if they thought eliminating the foreign language requirement was a good idea. Reader posts include:

• Adrienne Brady Walker: We need to accept that we are loving and working in a global economy, and knowing another language is almost a necessity. Half of my family lives in Germany, and they are taught English and another language their entire school careers, the fact that America does not require this is asinine and sad.