CHS often proudly touts around its language curriculum for offering three whole foreign languages – Spanish, French, and German – as part of its curriculum. However, out of the foreign languages offered, only two are in the top ten most commonly spoken languages in the world, according to the Nations Online website. To put things in perspective, Mandarin Chinese, the most spoken language worldwide, has more than one billion speakers globally; meanwhile, French has 129 million and German has 100 million. Offering more universally-spoken languages would benefit CHS students more. CHS can promote their languages as amazingly beneficial, but offering a variety of languages will be in their students’ best interests as languages can be more useful in the students’ adult life.

In addition to being more practical, many foreign languages can be very interesting to learn, and having a variety would fascinate students. Every language comes with its own detailed history and fascinating culture attached, which can be intriguing to students. According to Ethnologue, a study on languages conducted by SIL International, there are 6,909 distinct languages in the world; that is quite a bit more than the three offered here. Learning any language is an interesting, mentally-stimulating challenge, and many students find it very engaging. If there were a better variety of languages offered at Claremont, students could find new subjects that interest them greatly.

In addition, new languages can give students new perspectives. For example, it is very common for other languages to have words for ideas that are indescribable or untranslatable into English. Many cultures have traditions that reveal a lot about the society, and languages often reflect this. If students had the chance to learn new languages, it would open their eyes to more foreign ideas and ways of living.

However, many would argue that adding new courses to the curriculum would mean more teachers, and more money being spent on the educational part of school. The solution to this aversion to hiring new teachers is clever budgeting. One multilingual teacher could educate many classes in different languages, yet is still only taking up the salary of one teacher. If the school hires multitalented teachers, they could budget and save money. This process would ensure the school has effective teachers for the minimum amount of money, and the students get more language opportunities and potentially broader horizons.

CHS currently only offers three foreign languages, but hopefully this will soon change. New languages can open many new doors for students, both in finding new interests and passions, and learning practical skills they can use in the real world. Although this change may cost some money, its blow can be minimized with clever budgeting, such as hiring one multitalented teacher instead of multiple single-area teachers, and in the end, it will be completely worth it as the students’ academic life will be greatly enhanced. If everything works out, soon CHS will be saying “au revoir” to limited language options and “gutentag” to tons of new possibilities.