What a noble attempt to improve the intellect!

On the other hand, there would be those who would argue that a number of our students have not mastered the one language that they use the most.

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Hurrah for south Arkansas legislators Stewart and Smith.

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I agree. John Miller's idea should be adopted. I was fortunate enough -- although only in later years did I realize how fortunate that was -- to get a couple of years of Latin in an Arkansas high school (Hot Springs) back in The Middle Ages. Then, for reasons I needn't explain, I had three years of German and three of Greek in college. All of that was despite the fact that my lowest score on an aptitude test I took in high school was in foreign language!

Maybe the difficulty of good use of a dictionary to increase vocabulary when you can't understand any of the Latin, Greek, German, French, or Spanish words that are the root words of so much English vocabulary explains why so many households don't even have a dictionary.

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From the DemGaz -

"Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D Arkadelphia, said removing the language requirement was a mistake that had the 'unintended consequence' of reducing enrollment in foreign language classes."

They never saw that coming.

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Snap, do you know what the percentage is of households without a dictionary? We need to remember that they are available on line, whether used or not. My niece has a dictionary in every room of her house, including bathrooms, and one in her car.

I find myself using the online dictionary more these days, but still I fly to my 5-6 inch thick, dead tree dictionary at least a few times a week. I also have a dictionary of English slang which I frequently refer to. One of my favorite childhood stories about my son was when he and a friend were poring over that slang dictionary and he came running breathlessly into the kitchen yelling, "Mom, do you know what the guide words are at the top of this page?"---they were in the "efs".

They also loved looking at my pathology and other text books from college for the gross pictures. Their favorite was a picture of elephantiasis of the penis (caused by a parasite which clogs the lymphatic system stopping drainage). Both of these 10 year olds grew into perfectly lovely adults in spite of being exposed to some of the "seamier" sides of life at such a tender age.

In other news, Hayden is here. She missed her connection at DFW and arrived the next morning. It was a good thing as the trees were outdoing themselves putting on a spectacular show of color. She would have missed it in a night time drive home.

Having her here is like being blessed with a beautiful songbird which is what she is in truth. I wish DBI could spend an hour or two with her. Hayden is so in love with the world and pretty much everyone and everything in it. She is a one woman attitude adjustment machine. She is not naive, but just believes that the universe is tilted very heavily toward what is good and beautiful. And you know what? She's right!

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OK. You've pushed my button. And my wife and I are sitting around a motel room with nothing else really productive to do, biding our time until the clock moves around to scheduled events, so why not weigh in?

For background: We're both graduates of small, essentially rural, schools that had no foreign languages, nor even chemistry; mine did have shorthand. We're both university educated with multiple degrees. She has taught at all levels from first grade through university and has been head of a private school. I have taught only at the university and professional graduate levels.

This article sparked more conversation in our motel room that you want to hear, but I'm going to mention a few of the pros and cons.

Pro: We thoroughly endorse the basic notion: Do things to raise the intellectual and academic level of all students, and thus ultimately the intellectual and academic level of our society. Let's hear it for better education!!!

Con: The Arkansas lottery was to provide financial aid (we call it "scholarships," but it is technically financial aid, just at the GI Bill is. It is not dependent upon "scholarship" unless you mean a high school diploma) for all students, to give the economically challenged an opportunity to get into the pool with the economically gifted. But now there's a proposal to limit this financial aid to those who don't have two years of a foreign language?!

The children of the wealthy who are privileged to graduate from the better schools will have ready access to two years of a foreign language. What about the children of the farmers, loggers, and pulpwood haulers out around Podunk Crossing?

Con: Where are we going to find the teachers to teach these languages?

Con: Where are we going to find the money to pay these teachers?

Con: Which languages are we going to choose?

Pro/Con: The business world wants citizens to provide education/training for its employees but the corporations do everything possible to avoid paying taxes which might support those educational programs.

Pro: Perhaps "competency tests" could be included in the plan. As mentioned above, there's no need for a native speaker of Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, etc., etc., etc. to have two years of foreign language credit on his Arkansas high school transcript.

Those competency tests might also extend to students who would go to the local Barnes & Noble and buy the "Rosetta Stone" course for Japanese, Portuguese, etc. and become "proficient" in a language.

There are also online courses that can cover the reading/writing functions. I had my college credit in Spanish, but with two languages required I had to learn enough French to be able to read and write it to qualify for graduate school, but I didn't have to understand it when spoken, or to speak it myself.

Berlitz has produced conversational programs for international travelers for many years. Perhaps these could be worked into the program.

Pro: A kid wouldn't even have to go buy such a program if the school library (for example) had some available for checking out.

Pro: With Rosetta Stone or Belitz, individual students would be able to choose their own language rather than the school's being able to provide classes only in Spanish, French, or German (for example).

Con: If the legislature starts tinkering with the lottery scholarship program at this point, how long will it be before they tinker with it in some other way to give advantages to the economically favored that aren't available to the not-so-favored? It seems to me that the people of Arkansas passed this largely on the appeal of its helping to level the playing field. Now we want to give those on one side of the field an advantage over those on the other side?!

"THERE IS NO GOOD THING THAT CANNOT BE ABUSED!"

IMHO

Prufe red butt knot garanteed.

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I think the old requirement for a foreign language was a good thing in that it promoted scholarship (not the financial definition). But I wonder whether this debate is being driven by the financial limitations of the lottery?

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I'd much rather see foreign languages introduced at the elementary level.
I was fortunate enough to receive 5 years of Spanish during my K-12 years.
I had a semester of Spanish in 6th grade and a semester in 8th grade.
9th-12th I had a Spanish class. I loved learning the language; it's just unfortunate that I don't have any Hispanic friends to conserve with.
If John Miller wants more foreign languages in the classroom, he's more than welcome to put up money to help more students in Arkansas learn more foreign languages. Maybe he can set up some institutes or help pay the salaries (and benefits) of foreign language teachers in public schools.

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AS, I agree that that is needed. In fact, LRSD reqauires every TEACHER to take 2 hours of "parenting skills" classes a year. It is a shame that there is nothing, anywhere on how to be a parent.

I would also broaden that subject to call it "survival skills" and include cooking, minor home repairs, and logical thinkling. You have yong people marrying later who may have to live on their own for a number of years and they get no training in those skills, unless they are special ed.

Throw in knowing how to handle money.

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And you see the impossible challenge of any educational system. There is no way to teach EVERYTHING that EVERY student needs to know, and teach it at exactly the right time. Thus, when the proposal for two years of foreign language comes up for consideration, there will be MANY other suggestions for subjects more compelling.

Back on specific topic: I'd be in favor of various languages taught in elementary school. My children had them during those years; much easier to learn and much firmer grasp.

But again, do we offer only one (or two) chosen language in each school? And how do we choose which language will be the best (most useful in the future) for each student to learn.

As with others, I learned enough Spanish in my college course to get started, but was not associated with any Spanish-speaking people after that; lost it all within a very few months.

I was determined not to lose my reading knowledge of French, but the demands of my graduate course work simply didn't leave me time to keep up, so I had essentially lost it before my course work ended.

I view this a little bit the same way I do substance abuse treatment: It doesn't work unless the subject is involved in some kind of follow-up or "after care" program to keep the skills working. Simply requiring a couple of years of foreign language in order to qualify for a lottery scholarship isn't really going to accomplish much over the long haul. All is does is become a screening tool for financial-aid eligibility.

And I tend to agree with the suggestion above that this proposal probably is prompted by the anticipated drop in lottery proceeds: If two years of foreign language is required for eligibility, fewer people will qualify for it; it will be a self-screening process.

IMHO

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I see your point, Sky Pilot, about it being a screening tool.
I know SOME universities have a foreign language requirement. I attend UALR and they have a foreign language requirement. I would think it would be easier to pass these college courses if one had a foundation during their time in middle school or high school.

If the lottery commission really wants a screening tool, feel free to raise the ACT requirement to a 21 or 22.
If some students can't meet that requirement, they should be given an opportunity to qualify for the scholarship after their first semester in college once they have obtained a 3.0 GPA.

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Requiring a language in high school will throw incredible roadblocks up for many students in smaller schools. Even in those who will have access, most course offerings are Spanish -- certainly useful around here, but hardly the worldwide advantage touted by Miller. Perhaps Spanish would be helpful in Brazil because of the linguistic relationship of Spanish and Portuguese, although how much I'm not sure.
But in business dealings with China, Russia or India? To accomplish such a goal, better we require foreign language in college where a greater diversity of languages, and not limited to those mentioned above, can be offered. For example, we have a friend who is posted in eastern Europe, but who also works with clients in the Middle East. The various Arabic dialects, anyone?

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Con: Which languages are we going to choose?

Skypilot: Learn Chinese!

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As always, Sky is on point and eloquent. The lottery scholarship is financial aid, and a good thing too. That being said, my Latin came from altar boy days, and helped in medical education. My Spanish began in high school, continued through college and beyond, and perhaps helps me in our current world. I expect that people should address me in English, here in America, but now and then I wish to address newcomers from south of here, and am glad to be able to do so.

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Doigotta, I'm sure a foreign language class could be given virtually in these smaller school districts whether it be via Skype, on a specialized computer program, or perhaps the state could let high school students take a foreign language course at a local community college. There are lots of ways to offer more courses to students and not just the ones in rural school districts.
I'm all for students learning a foreign language, whether it be in high school or college.

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Yes, of course, Chinese. But which dialect do you suggest? And do you know how many major dialects of Chinese there are?

Just wonderin'.

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Sky is right about the scholarships. They are intended to provide financial aid for students who otherwise could not get financial aid. There probably are a lot of other scholarships available for those students who study foreign languages. My high school did not offer foreign languages; very few in Arkansas did in those pre-historic days. I took 18 semester hours of foreign language in college, which I promptly forgot once I got out into the working world. Nowadays, though, the college graduate may well need, and use, those foreign language hours. But, they should not be a requirement for lottery scholarships; that would penalize the students from the poorer, more rural schools, most of whom tend to be poor themselves.

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I do not know of any schools that are not currently offering foreign languages, though I am willing to be corrected if someone knows different. Some of them do so through distance learning with computers connecting them to a teacher, which is not ideal, in my opinion, but is workable and getting better all the time. I don't have a problem with requiring it for either the lottery scholarship or the Academic Challenge one, if my assumption that all schools have access to at least distance-learning is correct. It used to be a requirement for the latter scholarship, and, as mentioned in today's Republi-zette, is being considered again. Perhaps a waiver could be given for students legitimately unable to take a language due to factors beyond their control...

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Many of these things could, of course, be worked out in the fine tuning if the legislature moves in this direction, but I suspect that the first concept is that students would have two years of foreign language in a conventional classroom. Otherwise, the wording might be something like "two years of foreign language or its equivalent." That would give enough wiggle room to allow for distance learning, Rosetta Stone or Berlitz courses, tutoring, immersion studies, and other alternatives.

Again, I want to emphasize that I'm in favor of doing the best we can to provide as much education for our students as we and they can manage, but having come from a relatively small school--although it was a large rural school at the time--I'm mindful of the circumstance that not all of our Arkansas schools have identical curricular opportunities and I don't like to see students penalized for anything that is completely beyond their control--such as my inability to take a foreign language or chemistry or any math beyond plane geometry in high school. My school didn't even offer a speech course until my junior year, the first elective available. Before that, all students of a given grade level took the same classes. By virtue of that, the boys as well as the girls got to take shorthand, typing, and bookkeeping (which was the "math" course offered in the senior year).

It would please me no end to see two years of a foreign language available, or several years in elementary school or some such thing, but I hesitate to impose it as a screening qualification for financial aid.

But that's just me. And I'm just one.

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