Learn a language

Education is a lie: learn a language instead. I have been talking to someone who is unemployed, as I am and has been conscientiously seeking employment--as I am. She has been applying to Delta Airlines and other airlines. The irony is that the language requirement is for Asian languages. Asian languages have a completely different writing system and is not close to the Germanic and Romantic languages that English most closely resembles. I am for education but I question the legality of any corporation discriminating against English speakers in The United States of America. Language interpretors are employed in the so-called "Justice" system and corporations should be required to uphold the same standards. If the job requires an Asian language, they should have Asian language interpretors. Asian languages are usually not offered as part of the U.S. teaching curriculum. It is therefore unfair to ask of any American to have knowledge in such languages. This gives those with the money for private schooling and private lessons an advantage over those in poor areas. In my opinion, it implies that one is Asian. It is amazing that immigrants can come to America, never speak English and become very successful business owners, but Americans--born in the largely monolingual country and with English fluency--cannot find employment. Skip college and invest in a language school or encourage children to participate in a foreign exchange program. 

English as an official language? Not in America.

This is a very sensitive topic. I have studied several languages in elementary school, high school and college. I continue to study language because communication is the number one tool of diplomacy. I am a Navy brat and I was also a Third Culture Kid. I studied Spanish in Spain because that is where I lived as a child. My school was a Department of Defense Dependent School, more commonly known by the acronym--as so many military things are: DODDS. I believe that the DODDS school system has some of the best ideas for making children and teens global citizens. Civics is embedded in the curriculum. We had a class called "Host Nation" and it exposed us to the language and culture of Spain. I became bilingual very quickly. I continued with Spanish and went on to learn French and Japanese. I was excited to see a job advertisement from Delta Airlines and was simultaneously appalled when I read that in order to apply, one must be bilingual in languages that have different writing systems such as Japanese, which alone has three, and a language such as Swedish, which has never been offered at my high schools or colleges. At a time when so many Americans are looking for work, is this fair? Who is most likely to speak these languages? I have had advantages in life because I lived overseas for the majority of my life, but some Americans do not have passports or an education system with such advantages. I have retained that ad from Delta and I have written an entire essay on why it should be revised. Large companies can send applicants to language schools--as the US military and other institutions do. English is arguably the most common language in the United States and it angers me that I would be required--emphasis on required--to speak another language in order to work in the U.S. Official languages are of a huge significance because some languages such as Hawaiian and Native American languages, were once illegal in the U.S. In order to preserve their cultures, the Constitution for the state of Hawaii has included Hawaiian as its official language. Writing is legally binding and such arguments should, I believe, be presented at the state and federal levels for reform. The Middle Class is dwindling in America. Corporations with large profits should not be exempt from hiring monolingual English speakers.