Spanish, a Must in Stoller?

Spanish, a Must in Stoller?

With only one language available in Stoller, students demand for more 

A representation of the available language classes in Stoller Middle School

By Teresa Shaw

            Language is an essential part of life. The more languages you learn, the better you communicate with others. It is because of this that it is required in High School for you to take at least two years worth of  language classes. Just because it's required in High School though, doesn't mean that one only starts in High School. Yes, from the start of Middle School, it is also required for one to take a second language class as well. This helps one experience the variety of classes available for a student and helps the student understand that they themselves could plan their future classes with their own hands. That is of course, if the Middle School itself provides a variety to choose from for the students in the first place. Stoller Middle School is a Middle School that does not give a variety in language classes for the students. And that language of course, is Spanish. It's not like it was always like this though. Just last year, 2009, Stoller had another language, Chinese, available. It wasn't until this year that it has been cut off. This wasn't the only time they had cut off a language though. In 2007, Stoller has also cut off French, replacing it with Chinese. It wasn't until 2009 in September that Stoller has only one language class available. This has caused quite a bit of problem within the students. When asked whether or not they think that Stoller Should have more second language options, 30/30 people said Yes, they should. "We should have tons more language classes." Katherine Lu says. "In other schools (like ISB), they have Japanese, Chinese, French and Spanish while we only have...Spanish. This is a great disadvantage to the students in Stoller since students in other schools are able to have more options in High School while, if we want to take a different language class in High School, we would have to start a new." Students who have had Chinese for the past two years and had to take Spanish this year had strong opinions for new classes as well. "It's like we have to take Spanish. It's absolutely useless for us since we're behind everyone else in Spanish. Most of the people might have to repeat Spanish I in High School." Erik Hahn stated. "They should've at least let the 8th graders finish Chinese instead of forcing them to take Spanish abruptly" another 8th grader, Lexie, exclaimed. "It's even more of a disadvantage for us (the people who want to take another language class other than Spanish in High school) since we would only get one extra High School credit if we continue Spanish. It's like Stoller is forcing us to continue Spanish instead of exploring something that we're interested in."

            Not only is this a great disadvantage for all of the students in Stoller, many students also claim that having a lack in variety affects Stoller itself even more. "New students entering Stoller must be angry at the lack of choices available in Stoller. If they wanted to study a different language in High school, they would have to start all over again while they could've learned a bit in Middle School." Kacie Roman says. "If we had more variety in Middle School, it means that we would be able to gain more credits in High School. If I had to choose to go to a Middle School that would give me an advantage in High School (as in getting one credit for taking the language class in Middle School) compared to a school that only has one language to choose from, I would choose the one with more of a variety. I don't want to be forced to take a language that I don't want to learn in the first place." Cori stated. With a ton of students demanding another language class to be available in Stoller, Stoller itself has its own explanation of why they only provide Spanish: the lack of students enrolling to the second language class. With only a handful of students going to taking the other language class other than Spanish, it would only make that class a waste of money. The exact reason why Chinese was cut in the first place. The solution to this? Students say to add French back to the list. "I would love to learn French since a lot of people around me could speak French." Kacie Roman claims. She's not the only one who has brought her interest in French up to the plate though, together with her, 7 others have also said that they would prefer to learn French over Spanish. Others say that any other language is fine though, as long as it's not just Spanish. "As long as we have one or two more extra classes, I would have no complaints." Eric claimed.

            With 30/30 students surveyed stating that they would want to have more language options added to Stoller, most would agree that Stoller would need to take a change to the better. To actually fill those extra classes up with eager students is up to the students. But, with the upcoming 6th graders taking a step closer to the future, they should also not be bounded by this restriction and have a chance to take a class in which they are interested in, not one that is required. Who knows, maybe just one extra class would stop all of the complaints wandering around Stoller Middle School.