▶ Your Answer : Although there is
no complete consensus that has been reached on this topic, yet I would like to
take a stance and make my agreement with the given thesis that children should
be required to learn a foreign language from the time they attend school until
they get into the university. In order to substantiate my central focal points,
I will provide specific reasons and explore the given topic in great detail in
this essay.
To begin with, I firmly believe
that learning a foreign language before they begin university is really
important and beneficial for children. They will have no problem to communicate
with diverse people who use different languages, even if they go to other
countries. Opponents of my perspective claim that children also have many
opportunities to learn a foreign language after they get into the university.
Proponents of this view several points as the rationales for their argument and
their argument might have some validity. But after closer look, there exists an
abundance of examples that calling into question what they claim. Among such
examples, my personal experience can elucidate their incorrect viewpoint.
Although I didn’t really get benefits of learning foreign language, I learned
Spanish in my high school junior year. After I graduated high school, when I
had a chance to visit Spain, I could communicate with many people there without
a language barrier. Moreover, during the trip, I could make some Spanish
friends, sharing common interests. If I didn’t learn Spanish before I graduate from
high school, I would not be able to make such valuable experience and friends.
This validates my earlier contention that children should learn a foreign
language before begin university.
The account of mine that I
illustrated above is not the only evidence to support my view. A recent survey
conducted by one of the leading educational consulting firms in Korea endorsed
my opinion when the survey respondents were asked whether they sided with the
argument that all children should be required to take a foreign language from
the time they start school until they begin university or not. A leading
education expert claims that since it is the era of globalization, children are
required to learn a foreign language. Among many reason, the main reason is that
most companies and universities require global talent. The expert also states
that to be such person, it is very fundamental thing that children can prepare
for requirement of most companies and universities from their young age.
In conclusion, in
spite of the fact that there may be some opinions that children also have many
opportunities to learn a foreign language after they begin university, taking
into account of all the factors that I described above, we may reach to the
conclusion that all children should be required to learn a foreign language
class from the time they start school until they begin university. |