Fouts 1

Sophie Danielle Fouts

DC English 3, 0112A
30 September 2015
T Hablas Espaol?
It is a well-known fact in United States that students are required to take at least two
years of Spanish during their high school careers. This amount of foreign language training has
slowly been realized not to be able to solidify a proper comprehension of the Spanish language.
This matter is becoming a national dilemma because of the change in population and school
demographics. U.S. students need to be put into additional Spanish learning programs, so that
they might have the opportunity to learn Spanish in order to compete with the changing times.
In a recent report, Burgen revealed that America now hosts 41 million native Spanish
speakers as well as an extra 11.6 million bilingual speakers (1). Combined, these statistics put
the United States as number two on the list for the having the greatest population of Spanish
speaking citizens (Burgen, 1). Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office
which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the
biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth (Burgen, 1). This severe growth is causing a divide to
develop between the Spanish and English speakers, by making it difficult for both parties to
communicate with one another. This is one of the foremost reasons why America should push to
develop their students Spanish education because, if these projections remain true, 33% of the
U.S.s population will be speaking Spanish as their primary language (Burgen, 1). The
expression of oneself through words is the capstone of civilization, and if humans are not able to
use speech to understand one another, that culture and society will begin to fall apart. For
example, there is a well-known story based out of Genesis 11, The Tower of Babel.
Setting all spiritual aspects aside, this story truly illustrates the importance of language
when people are interacting with each other. At the time there had only been one language

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spoken on the Earth, and the people decided to build a strong tower to reach the heavens. They
declared that they would not be scattered throughout the earth! God, angered by their arrogance,
says, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they
plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they
will not understand each other (Fire Bible: Student Edition, 45). The story ends with the people
losing their ability to converse with one another, and as they feared, their society became divided
and their people separated. The tower was left unfinished. Abraham Lincoln says, A house
divided against itself cannot stand. Therefore, the house of America will fall, like Babel, if it
does not unite by implementing new Spanish learning curriculums.
Required programs for learning Spanish in America include Spanish 1 and 2, both of
which are taken in high school. Dual credit courses or college courses include Spanish 3 and 4.
Admittedly, people do argue that four years of Spanish is enough to be able to speak and
understand Spanish, but Spanish 3 and 4 are not mandatory in high school, and not everyone
goes to college. Plus, these students are only being taught inside the Spanish bubble of their class
rooms. They are not applying what they have absorbed outside their schools by actually speaking
to other one another in Spanish. In order for students to obtain a complete understanding of
Spanish, they need to be fully immersed in it since childhood.
There are no mandatory curriculums for teaching children Spanish in elementary or
intermediate U.S. public schools systems, and Drozdowicz notes in her paper, Many adults agree
with the notion that it is easier to acquire multiple languages at a young age and ideally as a child
(10). There are a few schools that do support dual immersion programs (Drozdowicz, 7). Like

paper, they are spread thinly throughout the whole of the U.S. with only 248 programs in 23
states (Drozdowicz 10), but even then these institutions are making progress. These schools are
graduating students who are not only bilingual, but also bi-literate and bicultural (Drozdowicz
5). Besides physical communication, there are also other benefits that can result from a new
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generation beginning to speak Spanish more frequently in their everyday lives.
With hot issues such as immigration being relevant in America today, having a society
that is able to comprehend and embrace the Latino culture as it is would help to break down
some of the stereo types that have developed. For instance, the view that Latino immigrants are
solely useful in respect to labor relations (Price, 803). Change begins at the root of a culture,
which is the normal everyday lives of ordinary people. Price reinforces this idea in her article
Race and ethnicity: Latino/a immigrants and emerging geographies of race and place in the
USA by stating, The regional scale is pivotal as both a representational practice and an
ideological strategy in the discursive struggle of what it means to be American (802). If
schools begin to implement academic curriculums that encourage the introduction of Latino
culture and heritage at the local level, the United States as a whole would begin to experience a
shift in cultural attitudes. Furthermore, these programs would also help to ease the transition of
immigrant or non-immigrant Latino students into U.S. schools.
Humans are often afraid to exist outside the social norm. This fear goes all the way back
to when people were living in groups as hunters and gathers. If a person was not productive in
the survival of the group, that person ran the risk of being left to die alone in the wilderness, so
as humans, people try to meld into the culture they are thrust into in order to survive. When a
Latino immigrants come to the United States, they will usually have children that will also speak
Spanish. A disturbing pattern has begun to emerge when these children enter the public school
systems. More often than not, these students are being subjected to educational and social out
casting because Latino students are overrepresented in three categories, speech-language
impairment, specific learning disabilities, and emotional/behavioral disorders (Moreno,
Gaytan, 8). These overrepresentations come from Latino students not being able to present a

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satisfactory knowledge of speaking English and educators lack of understanding regarding their
culture (Moreno, Gaytan, 8). The students are not helpless. The fact is that teachers and
instructors are ill-equipped to provide the same level of education to these students as opposed to
their English speaking peers. As a result, intentionally or not, Latino students are being treated
differently in U.S. schools systems. The same can also be said for Latino adults, and why they
are usually found working lower class job opportunities. Consequently, these are the reasons as
to why there has been a scramble to find bilingual teachers as well as bilingual workers.
America has always boasted the ideology of equal education for all, but as stated, those
expectations are not being met by the current standards. Moreno and Gaytan say that educators
misunderstanding of the Latino culture results in the negative school experience that often leads
to student disengagement on both a personal and academic level (9). However, when teachers
who are bilingual are added into the schools, Restuccia explains, Research reported by the
Washington Post showed that having a Hispanic, bilingual teacher not only helped ELs
comprehend academic material, but increased attendance and graduation rates among that group,
as well. In essence, students tend to benefit from teachers who both speak their language and
reflect their culture (1). This proves the need of Spanish teachers in U.S. schools. It has also
been mentioned, that beside the education sector, there has also been dire search for bilingual
employees in every other category of work, ranging from fast food to politics. With such great
needs facing its economy, it is a true wonder America has not made learning Spanish a top
priority in their schools. Change is a difficult mistress, but sometimes playing her game will
mean survival. Of course, some people will always disagree with that assumption.
In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, Lopez and Gonzalez-Barrera agree that
the amount of Spanish individuals in America will continue to rise for the coming years (1).

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However, they expect that these statistics will eventually taper off until it is only English that is
spoken in American homes (1). They declare that Spanish follows the same pattern of decline in
use as other non-English languages, such as Italian, German or Polish (1), which were

prevalent in the 1900s. As new generations of Latinos begin to adopt more and more use of
English when consuming news media, television entertainment, music or speaking it (Lopez,
Gonzalez-Barrera 1) Spanish will begin to fade back into the shadows of relevance. These
statements, though supported by logical facts and reasoning, do not debunk the overwhelming
need for bilingual English/Spanish speakers currently. Even in their article, Lopez and GonzalezBarrera admit that the story of the Spanish language in the U.S. is still unfolding. The future is
always subject to change. No matter how much they think they do, people do not know what will
happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, but what they can do is prepare, and
preparing now means learning Spanish.
If this issue continues to be ignored, America is going to be in for a rude awakening.
What people do now as a result of these conclusions will have a significant impact on the now as
well as in the future. The discussion points brought up by Burgen, Price, Restuccia, Moreno,
Gaytan, Drozdowicz, Lopez, and Gonzalez-Barrera only serve to highlight the growing
necessity of students being bilingual in America. U.S. students need to be put into additional
Spanish learning programs, so that they might have the opportunity to learn Spanish in order to
compete with the changing times. This country is made up of many different parts, and if a part
of it is not able to function, this country is ultimately going to be setting itself up for failure. It is
time to take on the title of, Yo soy Americano.

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Works Cited
Burgen, Stephen. US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain only Mexico has more. 29
June 2015. Web. 10 September 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country>.
Drozdowicz, Sara. "English/Spanish Dual Immersion Elementary School Programs: Factors To
Consider." Online Submission (2012): 1-37. ERIC. Web. 14 September 2015.

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Fire Bible: Student Addition. Vol. New International Version. Springfield: Life Publishers
International, 2007. Print.
Gerardo Moreno, Francisco X. Gayta'n. "Focus On Latino Learners: Developing A Foundational
Understanding Of Latino Cultures To Cultivate Student Success." Preventing School
Failure 57.1 (2013): 7-16. Professional Development Collection. Web. 14 September
2015.
Gonzalez-Barrera, Mark Hugo Lopez. What is the future of Spanish in the United States? 5
September 2013. Web. 10 September 2015. <http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-states/>.
Price, Patricia L. "Race And Ethnicity: Latino/A Immigrants And Emerging Geographies Of
Race And Place In The USA." Progress In Human Geography 36.6 (2012): 800-809.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 September 2015.
Restuccia, Danielle. Why Demand For Spanish-Speaking Teachers Is Increasing. 25 November
2013. Web. 10 September 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/25/spanishspeaking-teachers_n_4338605.html>.

Unpublished work 2015 Sophie D. Fouts.