Walking down the 250s and 260s hallways at PHS, it’s not unusual to hear the chatter of students conversing in Japanese, or the muffled rhythms of Malian pop music seeping through the walls. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday celebrated in varying forms in many Asian countries, the crumbs of mooncakes are scattered across classroom floors, and strands of auspicious symbols hang from the ceiling, swaying slightly every time students pass under them. In February or March, classroom doors are plastered with eclectic Mardi Gras decorations. These experiences reflect just a few of the festivities organized by our school’s wonderfully rich World Language program. Unfortunately, despite how fun and intellectually stimulating they can be, many students at PHS choose to deprioritize their world language classes. These classes are a window into the customs and vernacular of cultures around the globe, and are vital for any student who wants to have a nuanced view of the world around them. By only requiring one year of World Language, our school is undervaluing the importance of cultural enrichment. It should be required for PHS students to take the full four years of their world language classes, and even rudimentary language courses should be valued just as much as every other class that a student might have on their plate.

Language connects people. It fosters solidarity and understanding. It is, at its heart, a mode of empathy. Language barriers, on the other hand, create categorization, alienation, even dehumanization. By increasing the fluency of the student body in languages other than English, PHS would make itself a more welcoming place, and its students more welcoming people. For students who do not speak fluent English, it would serve as a great comfort to know that there are others making an effort to speak their first language. Immigrants are often made to feel out of place in our country, and language barriers contribute to this problem. Many Americans travel to other countries with the expectation that their people speak enough English to be able to communicate, and this is often true. But when a non-English speaker visits America, most Americans don’t speak a lick of their language. Many non-anglophone countries choose to mandate the teaching of English in their schools. Why shouldn’t schools in English-speaking countries mandate the teaching of other languages?

With the advent of the digital age, globalization is more of a reality than ever. With this new interconnectedness has come a strengthened desire for uniformity, especially with regard to language. English has become the world’s lingua franca, aka a “bridge” or “link” language between speakers of different native languages, and many governments have made efforts to replace traditional languages with English, such as India in 1835 when it passed the English Education Act. Lingual diversity acts as a conduit for cultural diversity. It is vital to the preservation of the history, heritage, and cultural identity of various regions around the world, which are all threatened by English’s dominance. Within our country, it promotes the preservation of the culture and heritage of different immigrant groups.

By encouraging world language learning in our school, we can emphasize the importance of lingual diversity, and create an environment that is more inclusive of diverse cultures and people. Moreover, language classes are more than linguistics—they expose students to the rich and varied cultures of countries around the world. In French classes at PHS and Princeton Middle School, for example, students can expect to learn everything from the intricacies of the Cajun cuisine in Louisiana, to the school schedules of students in Paris, to the gender inequities in Senegal. The school requires that we spend two years on every nook and cranny of American history and four years reading exhaustive amounts of English text. The school should push students to study other languages and cultures with just as much rigor.