As Advanced Placement enrollment increases and new PLTW classes debut at RHS, one subject slowly loses what little attention it received to begin with: foreign language. Students overload themselves with stress that comes from rigorous courses while they ignore the importance of learning a language other than English.

Spanish and French remain the only two foreign language options at RHS, with the latter often being populated by admittedly lazy students who heard French is easier.

This two-language system continues across the district, with schools consistently offering Spanish and attempting to offer French. The problem with the foreign language department doesn’t stem from French serving as an unviable alternative; the problem stems from French being the only alternative.

The diverse RJUHSD community – of which RHS is a part – should encourage languages such as Russian, Chinese and Tagalog to be implemented into the list of options. This implementation will likely never happen if the current trend of advocating widespread enrollment in courses that may be important to a few, but are useless for most, continues.

After working to get an A in Biology, a graduation requirement, I found myself forgetting that the class existed in just a few weeks later. I didn’t run into a situation in which I needed to know the stages of meiosis or the parts of a cell, but I constantly find myself in situations where I could help someone that is struggling to speak in the vernacular.

In the first years of high school nobody can escape this feeling of learning nothing useful, a required course that you thought would be terribly useless could turn out to be something that you want to pursue a career in. Toward the end of high school, however, these hyper-technical courses cripple students because students feel they must take them to get into the college of their dreams, despite not being at all interested in the material.

Instead of suggesting that students simply take AP, RJUHSD should advocate a culture in which students enroll in courses that interest them, while filling the rest of their schedule with courses that will be relevant no matter their intended field of study. The most obvious choice to fill this void is foreign language.

In addition to its ability to maintain relevance no matter someone’s intended career, foreign language study promotes cultural understanding that is vital to the American experience. Despite this country largely consisting of immigrants, English has become so dominant in American life that people wanting to assimilate to our culture must first struggle an unnecessary amount before they can reap the rewards of moving to the “land of opportunity.”