There is a constant debate on whether or not languages are vital to a high school education. People today are content with fluency in one language and are starting to think that it is a waste of time and money to include a foreign language in the required high school curriculum. That argument is invalid and uneducated, and here is why.

To understand why this argument is irrelevant, try to define what the point of any class is and what you are supposed to gain from it. The reason we take classes is to learn the basis of our world in order to potentially expand upon that knowledge in the future. So the debate that says “foreign languages are not important unless you plan to be a teacher or live in a different country” is very narrow-minded. In order to make this argument fair one has to assume that each daily class taken in high school is of equal importance. So if that is true then one might as well say, “I do not need to take science because I do not plan to be a doctor” or “I do not want to be a writer so I do not need to take English”. Each class serves a purpose in high school; to introduce students to something so that they may find what interests them most in order to pursue it further in college and for the rest of their lives.

If there were not any foreign language classes there would be far less communication between cultures which would eventually leave a huge gap in society. This ignorance would not benefit anyone. All and all, foreign languages are offered to benefit us just like every other class required in high school. Therefore, not taking a language is a huge disservice for all students that would result in a loss of much needed culture.