Josh Smith reporter
Many high schools and colleges require a second language, and with good reason, there are plenty of benefits. A base knowledge of a foreign language helps you to interact with people around the world, opens up career opportunities, aids in situations when you may encounter someone who needs help but only speaks that language, and helps grow empathy for others while you struggle to learn a second language as well.
For these same reasons I suggest a requirement of American Sign Language (ASL).
According to The Hearing Loss Association of America, an estimated “48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss.” This figure is roughly 14.5 percent of the United States population, a higher number than the population of Americans who only speak Spanish (a common language to take in high school due to its utility), but I’m not suggesting that sign language should replace foreign language requirements. Currently quite a few high schools and colleges allow for American Sign Language to count as credit for the foreign language requirement, however, the benefit and need of one does not replace the benefit and need of the other. In my personal life I have used Spanish plenty of times to help in customer service and tech support jobs, but frequently found myself wishing I had also learned American Sign Language to help when a customer or co-worker was deaf or hard of hearing. When resolving complex issues in customer service or tech support, simple pointing is often not enough; many customers and employees get very frustrated with the situation, understandably so.
Kelsi and Taylor, two sisters who started losing their hearing around the age of six due to Morquio syndrome (a form of dwarfism), explained their difficulties growing up with communication barriers for this article.
“I started losing hearing around the age of six, I got my first hearing aids in the summer before first grade, and my hearing has only gotten worse since,” said Kelsi. “I would have to ask for people to speak louder and slower so I could pick up on the annunciation, and that they face me so I could read lips while doing so. A sign language class wasn’t introduced until I was a freshman in high school. If we had a ten-minute ASL word of the day in elementary school, life would’ve been easier. Kids got annoyed when I couldn’t understand what they were trying to tell me, which resulted in a lot of missed opportunities for friendship.” She added, “Going out in public can be hard if you aren’t familiar with the area and there’s not someone to ‘translate’ for you.”
Taylor expressed her frustration with the quality classrooms, teachers, and translators, “There was a no headphones rule, (the teacher) would be upset because I wore Bluetooth hearing aids, I wasn’t listening to music, I’ll throw my phone out the classroom, I need my hearing aids. Plus (the translator) would just eat his apples and sleep, then translate when (the teacher) was talking about us.” Kelsi picked up from there, “That’s what happens more often than you would think, they can be iffy, not really translating unless they feel like it. I know you’ve seen the infamous ‘fake’ translator of the Mandela memorial, but not all of them are like that. The Snoop Dogg one (Holly Maniatty) is the best, and the ones who did Usher’s halftime performance this year (Shaheem Sanchez and Anjel Piñero) KILLED IT!”
Learning a new language is difficult, even one like American Sign Language that is based on English, but it’s not impossible. Learning a language can be much easier at a younger age, and the earlier sign language is learned, the less often great girls like Kelsi and Taylor will struggle to communicate and make friends in elementary school. Although I do think sign language should be implemented in K-12 schooling, it isn’t too late for us here at Pitt State. The American Sign Language Club meets at 5pm every Monday in Grubbs Hall room 103, and their organization is open to everyone, ASL is not a requirement. More information about the American Sign Language Club can be found on Gorilla Engage.