California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is poised to make a mistake. Due for his signature before month’s end is Bill 2446 which would effectively eliminate the requirement that students take either an arts or a foreign language course to graduate from high school.
During the 2008-09 school year, more than 870,000 California high schoolers took a foreign language course. More than 1.2 million took art. And hopefully many of them would still do so, even If AB2446 becomes law. But it may be more difficult to encourage students to learn their irregular verbs and memorize their lines for drama class if these subjects are no longer required.
What’s worse, dropping these requirements would send the clear message that art and foreign language are unimportant. That strikes us as particularly odd in the state that boasts more non-English speakers than any other, and which houses The Getty Museum and so many of America’s greatest art institutions.
Does California and its actor-Governor, whose native language is not English, really want to lead the nation in jettisoning foreign language and arts from our schools? We doubt that, if Schwarzenegger takes the time to see this bill for what it is, he will make this mistake. But we’ll be watching. Just in case.
Lynne Munson