School officials in Fairfax County, Va., understand well that foreign language instruction is critical if today’s students will be ready to compete in tomorrow’s highly competitive global economy.
But, as is so often the case, lofty education goals run afoul of financial realities.
Years ago, the Fairfax County, Va., school system called for all students to start early to learn a foreign languagein elementary schoolso they would graduate with some fluency in a second language.
Yet now officials in this Washington, D.C., suburb are weighing budget cuts that endanger this innovative and logical instructional objective. At risk are language immersion programs existing in a dozen elementary schools as well as plans to add foreign language instruction to dozens more.
It’s not a given that the programs will be cut. “School officials say the early programs are crucial to producing a generation of bilingual students,” reported a recent Washington Post article. “Two or three years of high school French typically is not enough to get students beyond a beginner level.”
Any foreign language instructor will tell you the same thing. The earlier you start teaching a second languageand the longer you teach that languagethe more likely you’ll end up with a bilingual student.
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