Should Schools Stop Requiring Foreign Language Classes?

Hoping to free up more options for students when it comes to high school electives, the House Education Committee approved two bills in Lansing last week that would eliminate the foreign language requirement for graduation.

At Rochester Community Schools, students must take two years of a foreign language in order to graduate, district spokesperson Debra Hartman said.

The district's high schools currently offer French, German, Spanish and American Sign Language, Hartman said.

By eliminating the two-year foreign language requirement, the proposal hopes to give students not headed to college more vocational options in school, but the Michigan Department of Education opposes the bill, according to the Detroit News.

"Students, regardless of post-secondary plans, will benefit tremendously with at least one additional language to be competitive in the global marketplace," spokesman Martin Ackley said in the report. "World languages is essential for all of our students."

House Bills 4465-4466 would also modify required credits in physical education, the arts, career and technical education, science and math, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.

The bill awaits a full house vote.

Hartman said the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education hasn't yet taken a position on the bill, but said administrators have been following the bill since its inception.