The Best Feeling Ever

Transcript

The best feeling ever is going to a Mexican restaurant. But no, not for the tacos, or the burritos, or even the piña coladas. No, it’s for overhearing the conversations they’re having. You see I speak Spanish… but I don’t look like I speak Spanish. I mean, look at me. I’m Irish and German, my middle name is Hardesty, mild salsa is too spicy. I bet if you looked up “white guy” in the dictionary you’d see me. And that means I can overhear some really interesting conversations. Like, you know when you go to a Mexican restaurant and you hear the workers in the back talking and you don’t know whether they’re talking smack about you, or if they’re secretly plotting revenge on their manager that doesn’t speak English? I can understand that! So, if you’re the manager of the La Victoria in San Jose, I’d look out if I were you.

Now, while this is definitely a very useful skill, it’s nowhere near the only skill I’ve gained by being bilingual. Because a study by Dr. Viorica Marian of Northwestern University finds that for bilingual people, managing two languages means the brain is constantly deciding which one to use while blocking out the other, strengthening cognitive skills like attention, self-control, and task-switching. They’re so good at focusing on one language while ignoring all interference from the other that it makes them better at filtering distractions, adapting to new situations, and handling complex tasks. But it’s not just intangibles, on average, bilingual students score 150 points higher on the SAT, 25% higher on standardized math and reading tests, and by the end of middle school, were found to be a full year ahead in reading than their monolingual counterparts. And the world has caught on to this trend. Internationally, more than 43% of all people are bilingual. In Italy, 66%, France? 60. Great Britain? 36. But the US? Just 13%. For a nation built by immigrants, that's not diversity. That's deficiency. So how did our land of opportunity fall so far behind?

Well, the simple answer is that the American foreign language system does too little, too late, treating a bilingual education as a luxury, not a necessity. An MIT study reveals that it is nearly impossible for someone to achieve proficiency similar to that of a native speaker unless they start learning by 10 years old. But most Americans don’t even take a language class until high school, if they even do then. Because a study by the Institute of International Education reveals that only 20% of Americans take a foreign language class at all. Why? Because only 11 states have a foreign language requirement to graduate. The rest either don’t have one at all or they have one, but it can be fulfilled by other elective classes, like art or PE.

And the root cause behind America’s lack of bilingualism goes even deeper. We claim to celebrate diversity, but treat learning another culture as optional. Because the beauty of learning another language isn’t just about learning grammar and conjugation, it’s the multiculturalism you gain with it. Bilingualism and multiculturalism are gateways to understanding different perspectives, values, and ways of thinking. They allow us to see the world through multiple lenses, fostering empathy and challenging stereotypes. In our world today, this kind of cultural fluency is more valuable than ever. Because when we fail to gain that additional cultural insight, we’re not just missing out on opportunities, we create a breeding ground where it’s far too easy to see them as foreign, and with that, inferior. Because our belief of “This is America, speak English” fosters a sense of linguistic racism and has spread to the point where nearly half of white Republicans, and more than a third of Americans say it “bothers” them when they hear people speaking another language. And this has spread to the point where nearly a third of immigrants have said that they have been “insulted for speaking a language other than English” outside of their house. A more bilingual society changes this, since studies have shown that bilingual individuals tend to appreciate and celebrate the differences among cultures, recognizing their shared humanity. And I agree with that, because I’ve experienced it firsthand.

You see, for nine years, I attended River Glen: a bilingual Title I school that, in Kindergarten, takes 30 kids who speak English natively and 30 kids who speak Spanish natively, and combines us, teaching us both inglés y español, allowing us to be fluent in both. Growing up in this system, I never really knew how… lucky I was. I mean, to me, I thought that anyone who wanted it could get a bilingual education. At River Glen, they taught us an acronym, which I believe perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the school: VISA. Value respect, Include others, Serve others, and Accept responsibility. Or in Spanish: Valorar respeto, Incluir a todos, Servir a otros, y Aceptar responsabilidad. Without the feeling of community and identity gained through bilingualism, River Glen could never have practiced VISA as well as they do.

But my bilingual journey didn’t stop when I graduated from River Glen. Since then I’ve joined organizations like PASOS, a nonprofit that fights for immigrant rights. At PASOS events, conducted fully in Spanish, I’ve been told stories that have really stuck with me. Like a woman recounting how after 9/11 happened, she prayed the attackers weren’t Latino, because it would make the government treat her people even worse. They weren’t, but they still do. Because I remember a story from another woman, on how she was told by PASOS to not open the doors, not step foot outside of her home, because doing so would mean her family would be separated. Without language, these stories go unheard, untold, unnoticed. And regardless of your political view on the subject, gaining cultural knowledge is still invaluable, and this cultural knowledge would have been impossible for me to gain without being bilingual.

That’s why I advocate for the U.S. government to enact the Multicultural Bilingual Education Act. First, a foreign language requirement will be enacted in all states, starting in kindergarten. It’s been proven that starting in high school is too little, too late, so if we want our students of tomorrow to actually learn another language, we have to start them as soon as possible, just like at River Glen. Second, the foreign language education system should shift from its current emphasis on teaching grammar to a focus on culture. This makes it so that for students, foreign language class isn’t just a chore, where they’re forced to memorize conjugation they view as useless—now, they’ll be immersed in the culture of the language, fostering empathy and combating xenophobia. Third and finally, a bilingual education should be incentivized through the Seal of Biliteracy. The Seal of Biliteracy is an award you can receive upon graduating high school if you can prove that you are bilingual. Now, while the Seal is technically offered in all 50 states, not all schools actually offer it. You see, I got the Seal in 5th and 8th grade at River Glen, but my high school, being a private school, doesn’t offer it. So, in the process of writing this speech, after learning more about bilingualism and the Seal, I reached out to my school’s administration, and now, we are working to implement the Seal of Biliteracy, so that anyone who qualifies for it can receive it. But it shouldn’t have to come down to that; the government should mandate it.

Because at the end of the day, being bilingual is so much more than just ordering a burrito, or overhearing a conversation—it’s a bridge to a whole new world. Being bilingual didn’t just change the way I speak, it changed the way I see the world. Y eso es la mejor sensación. And that’s the real best feeling ever.