[lg policy] Fwd: [Edling] Let's Stop Being the Butt of the Foreign Language Joke

[Harold Schiffman]

 Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


IT Business Edge



Let’s Stop Being the Butt of the Foreign Language Joke



We’ve all heard the old joke that someone who speaks two languages is
called “bilingual,” and someone who speaks one language is called
“American.” The shame is that so few of us Americans are bothered by
that.



 In a post I wrote back in December titled “Setting Our Kids Up for
Tech Career Failure,” I argued that our willingness to allow schools
to drop foreign language instruction as a cost-cutting measure will
yield a very costly predicament for our children:



The message being sent to our kids is that having a second language in
their career-building arsenals is inconsequential. Given that the
competition for STEM jobs will only become more global in scope by the
time these kids enter the work force, we’re handicapping them by
failing to prepare them with the international perspective and
globally oriented skill set that they’ll need to succeed.



Since then, it’s only become more obvious how beneficial it is to be
bilingual. A nationwide survey conducted earlier this year by
CareerBuilder and USA Today listed the demand for bilingualism as a
key employment trend for the second quarter of 2010…



Full text:

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/tennant/let-s-stop-being-the-butt-of-the-foreign-language-joke/?cs=41239




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