Some colleges and universities in the United States require their students to study a foreign language up to an intermediate level or for a certain duration of time. But this applies only to a minority of higher education institutions because the reality is that some institutions have this requirement in place only for their honors students, while most have no such requirement at all.
This is an undeniably unfortunate trend. The data reveals that in today's global economy, any university that sends its students out into the world without ensuring their knowledge of a second language is doing them a great disservice. To start, the World Trade Organization shows that world exports, which constituted 4.6% of the world economy back in 1870, grew to occupy 17.2% of the world economy by 1998. That's not only more than a threefold increase, but it's also an increase that's very indicative of the interdependent state that national economies are currently in.
Tech giants like Google and Facebook who produce so much of what we consume obviously have an enormous global base. But recent studies show that around 58% of small businesses also have international customers. Such stats suggest that knowledge of a foreign language can be a huge advantage when applying for jobs at these companies. And universities, who are responsible for preparing their students for the job market, are failing their raison d'être if they do not ensure each student possesses this consequential skill.
But even more importantly, learning a second language makes a smarter individual. According to the British Council, multilingual people have a higher density of grey matter, which is the space in the brain responsible for muscle control, sensory perception, emotions, and decision-making. Thus, being multilingual can make an individual better at certain types of memory games, and there is some evidence that multilingualism shields against dementia in old age. This resurfaces the idea that if universities wish to enhance the intelligence of their student body, and ultimately the country's population as a whole, they should mandate a language component in their curricula.
At the essential core of the college experience is a student's personal — social and emotional — development. Learning a second language can aid in this area because knowledge of another language allows students to communicate with people from different backgrounds than their own. This can help them attain a strong global, multi-cultural perspective and shed any false assumptions they may have regarding the superiority of American culture. And so, learning a second language becomes a humbling and growing experience.
This is why I urge university officials who have not yet done so to consider implementing a language requirement into their core curricula. To do so would be to give rise to a happier, wealthier, wiser cohort of young adults. To do so would be to live up to the standards expected of world-class American universities. To not do so would be to essentially cheat students of the thousands they pay in tuition every year.
