Language Classes in Massachusetts Found to Differ Greatly from Schools South of Boston

Although language immersion classes are strongly emphasized today in many public schools across the United States, the language offerings in the schools in many districts of Massachusetts stand out against many schools south of Boston.

Foreign language program not a standard

In the State of Massachusetts, the only required language to be taught in public schools is English. While there are many school districts in the state that offer more than just one language, it is not a standard requirement, according to a nonprofit group called the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MFLA), which is pushing for the foreign language program to be part of the required public school curriculum.

In Walpole High School, for example, the students are able to learn Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Latin, German or French, whereas Spanish is the only foreign language being taught at Hull High School.

According to Nicole Sherf of MFLA, although there are very strong language immersion programs in the state, there is no commitment from the local school district to include them in the public school curriculum. She said her group is pushing for state legislation to make language immersion programs a standard in the state public school system. The group is also working on having a “bi-literacy seal” to be added to the high school diplomas of students who have shown expertise in any foreign language.

A matter of determination

Surprisingly, there is actually a state recommendation since 1999 for foreign language inclusion from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of Massachusetts, which required that a foreign language be taught for at least two years to high school students. This meant that high school students must be able to understand, write, speak and read the foreign language, according to Jacqueline Reis, the department’s spokeswoman. The sad fact is that there is no one assigned to monitor this recommendation; therefore it became a local decision whether the district should offer a language or several languages or none at all.

Pushing for nationwide change

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Executive Director Martha Abbott said that there are only 16 states in the U.S. that require foreign classes as a high school graduation prerequisite. She said that her group plans to have a public campaign to make instruction of foreign languages a priority on a national level. They want all the citizens of the United States to understand that learning foreign languages is very important if they want the economic competitiveness of the U.S. to continue. She added that they have to realize that English will not ever be a dominant language.

Latest data available

Based on the available data (SY 2009-2010) from the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Spanish tops the list of foreign languages being taught in Massachusetts followed by French and Latin. Weymouth, Walpole, Canton and about 32 other districts offer German, and about 35 districts are offering Chinese, which is topping the list nationwide. There are about 20 districts that did not have any foreign language requirements although Portuguese is being taught, while a few offer Arabic and Russian.

The offering of foreign language classes in the different districts of the state corresponds to various reasons. Some were due to the demand of parents or interest from students and faculty, while other towns demanded it due to the heritage of the town’s citizens. Other districts offer the language courses when extra funds are available, or because there was support from local politicians.

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