As an international student in a foreign country, hearing someone converse with me in my native language is a small yet deeply impactful experience. It instantly brings me closer to home and evokes a sense of belonging and connection to the culture that I hold dear. Making language study a mandatory requirement for graduation in more high schools would add a skillset to a student’s toolbox in preparation for interactions in diverse workplaces and a globalized world.
Out of 112 respondents in a survey across the Upper School, 40.2% strongly agreed and another 40.2% somewhat agreed that foreign language should be a graduation requirement. These statistics demonstrate broad student support for language’s importance in the curriculum. Multilingualism is becoming increasingly valued in employment. According to a study by Alex Armstrong in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, multilingualism “[signals] unobservable traits to employers,” including “a particularly noisy signal of unobservable productivity.”
Being multilingual also opens the doors to engage with a broader range of people. Many prestigious universities include foreign language in their graduation requirements because of this interactive benefit. For example, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale all make foreign language a requirement. These institutions recognize that language skills reflect academic rigor and, more importantly, the ability to communicate and collaborate across cultures. Similarly, by requiring foreign language study, schools like Milton equip students with the skills needed to excel in a world that demands both intellectual and intercultural fluency.
In an increasingly globalized world, the value of learning a foreign language extends far beyond communication to cultural understanding. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2021, over 350 languages are spoken in the U.S. If you speak to someone in their native language, the impact goes beyond simple communication; it fosters deeper connection and serves as a powerful tool that enables individuals to bridge cultural differences and barriers. At Milton Academy, where 18% of students are international, learning a foreign language plays a key role in forming those connections.
While some students may choose to deepen their knowledge in a language they are already familiar with, others may choose to embark on a journey of learning a language from scratch; each tactic has its own benefits. Continuing to build off existing knowledge provides a valuable opportunity to gain proficiency and fluency at a faster pace. This strategy allows for deeper exploration of the culture associated with that language and enables students to learn from texts, books, films, and other mediums in a way that enhances their cultural understanding. In contrast, beginning a new language from scratch allows students to stretch their thinking and lean into the uncomfortable when exploring a new way of speaking.
In addition, a lot of languages share roots, structure, and grammar that makes one language easier while studying another. Gavin McBrine ‘28 explained how learning a language can have positive impacts on other studies, stating, “the first two months of Latin helped my learning and study for English grammar.” Personally, my own past experiences studying German in middle school helped me immensely in starting out to learn Spanish grammar, especially the conjugations and sentence structures.
Foreign language education is not only an academic skill but also an essential component of the well-rounded education that schools like Milton Academy claim to offer. Learning a foreign language ensures that one can not only effectively communicate with others but can also form connections with people from different cultural backgrounds. By making foreign language a graduation requirement, schools everywhere can better prepare students for success; if more schools embrace this approach, it will change not only students but also the world around them.