¿Hablas Ingles?

Ever since I was a junior in high school I knew I wanted to be an English major. It wasn’t my only idea for a major but I knew that it was probably going to be the one that I settled on. I also had feeling that I would end up at Framingham State. These both came true, and I am enjoying the classes that I am taking to fulfill my English requirement. There is, however, one downside to being an English Major at Framingham State. That downside is the foreign language requirement.

Framingham State University requires their English majors to take courses up to intermediate 2 of another language. For me this language is Spanish. Although I do understand the importance of knowing another language, and especially the usefulness of Spanish, I think it is counterproductive to make this a requirement. Shouldn’t English majors be focusing on how to use the English language more effectively? The four courses that I need to take to complete this requirement could be instead be filled with more literature or writing classes.
The level of the language required is also an issue. I feel that the level is just high enough to comprehend the language, but not quite high enough to speak and understand it effectively. I am in elementary Spanish II right now and I feel I am not going to learn Spanish in only two more courses. I may understand a few words or phrases that people say, but I don’t think I’ll be able to speak it. It is a useful skill to speak another language, but I feel it would be more useful in a business situation, rather than writing or teaching; which is what most English majors aspire to do.

Of course, this requirement could have been filled if I took four years of Spanish in high school. In this part it is my own fault. Against the better judgment of my elders, teachers, and some peers, I did not take Spanish my senior year. I was unaware of Framingham State’s requirement, and if I had known, I may have acted differently. None the less this is an unnecessary requirement for English majors. It must discourage many students from becoming an English major. Instead of just being good at English, you have to be good at Spanish as well.