STATEMENT: Polylinguistic practices should be promoted and upheld in American

education systems starting at primary levels.

Opposition: Students should not be required to learn a foreign language at primary levels in the
American school system.

Intro: There is no question that the students of today are the citizens of the future. It is society’s
duty to mold and shape students into outstanding individuals, people who will contribute and
propel understanding forward. Our schools serve to give students the best and most necessary
education possible to prepare them for future careers, contribute to society, and serve as an
example for the generations ahead. That being said, it is also a pressing task to decide what
deserves to be part of student curriculum. As an English-speaking nation, we must decide
whether learning foreign languages is logical, or even practical in an increasingly “English”
world. We believe that it may be time to lay foreign language studies to rest, at least in a primary
school setting.

Source B: By David Thomas

● Allows European competitors to leave English speakers in isolation because they are
seen as uneducated and unsophisticated.
● Europeans leaving English speakers in isolation will cause Europeans to gain English
business
● There is no need to learn a language unless you are going into a profession that uses it
● There are too many languages in the world to learn them - Mandarin
● Too many dialects
● The universal language is science, commerce, global politics, aviation, popular music,
and, the INTERNET
● English is a magical language
● Foreigners want to learn the language that Americans already speak

- Countries around the globe already hold many systems to conduct oneself as an English
speaker even if you don’t speak the native language. Learning their languages is no
longer a necessity in an increasingly “English-speaking” world. Japan, Poland, Croatia,
Germany, etc. Services like translator kiosks are set up in food chains and services
across the world, providing ease for any “non-native” to use.

- Although the Latino population in the U.S. continues to rise, the use of Spanish has
stayed at steady levels, due to the children of immigrants from Latin American nations
embracing English.
- Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, we’ve broken down the top three most
common languages spoken during 2009 to 2013. As it turns out, English still reigns
supreme, with the majority of households speaking the language in every single state
aside from Puerto Rico.
- https://www.newsweek.com/three-most-spoken-languages-every-us-state-1102170
 - Only 20% of Americans (65.4 million people) can speak another language. Outside of
this, the 261.6 million others cannot.
- “We found a possible bilingual disadvantage in metacognitive processing.” -Dr. Roberto
Filippi, Anglia Ruskin University https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-
news/12177769/Speaking-just-one-language-may-improve-insight-and-judgement.html
- The finding could have important implications for bosses hiring staff, who may wrongly
believe that applicants with more than one language will be superior.
- Previous studies have shown that learning a second language can help build up
cognitive reserve which can stave off dementia, while bilinguists are generally perceived
to be more tolerant and empathetic. But it is the first time that mental ability has been
questioned.“The results are somewhat against our initial predictions. We often observe a
bilingual advantage in attentional processing, and we thought that this advantage would
extend to decision-making and metacognitive processing,” said Dr Roberto Filippi,
director of the Multilanguage & Cognition Lab(MULTAC) at Anglia Ruskin University.

- Teaching more than one language to a child “too young” can cause issues in cognitive
development and in some cases, irreversible damage. (Klimova B. Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience. 2018 Jul 30; 12: 30

- Learning multiple languages requires a complete immersion to be effective

(https://connectusfund.org/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-multilingualism)
- In order for a person to effectively learn multiple languages, they need to be
completely immersed, but this can be difficult if children begin learning multiple
languages from a young age, making it difficult for them to clearly establish their
primary language

Based on the General Social Survey from 2000 to 2006, 4000 respondents were asked three
questions. 1. Can you speak a language other than English? 2. How well do you speak that
language? And 3. Is that a language you first learned as a child at home, in school, or is it one
you learned elsewhere?

The results showed that only 25% of the respondents speak a language other than English.
Only 41% of this 25% claim to speak the language “very well” and only 7% of this 41% learned
the foreign language in school. When multiplying these out, you get approximately .7%. The
product of learning language classes in American education systems has resulted in less than
one student in a hundred acquiring fluency.
Closing:
The young ages of children, specifically the primary age, is an essential period for learning,
understanding, and growing. Yes, it is scientifically proven that children do retain other
languages more efficiently at a younger age, but why would a foreign language be something
taught to a child at they same time they are trying to absorb the knowledge of the universal
language of math and science? In order to prepare children for their futures, which is the main
purpose of the American education system, they must be taught skills and courses that can be
useful as they enter into society and their futures. As we have previously stated, and as Brooke
commented on, only one in one hundred students from a general survey have acquired fluency
in the language they are learning. This data, as well as the fact that there are less careers that
require second languages than ones that do not, portrays that teaching children new languages
would waste money and precious time to teach younger children communication, math, reading,
and science. Speaking a foreign language is a wonderful skill to have, if one actually can be
fluent in it. The ability to learn another language and absorb the culture of other foreign
languages is something that lays in each person individually and should remain a choice. The
main question remains… if they will never have use for it, then what’s the point?