sounds, it’s the truth. We do not instil the significance of a foreign language into young students, and it shows in the carryover to their teenage years. We do not see the seriousness of teaching students to learn a foreign language. In fact, the statistics of the United States foreign language curriculum, compared to those of other countries, is quite shocking (to say the least). In Europe, for example, more than ninety percent of students in elementary schools are made to learn English (Beale 2). Counties around the world see new languages as an opportunity and a pathway, and make sure it is a top priority to be taught in schools (2). Meanwhile, schools in the United States have never made this a priority (2). A 2006 study showed that about 200 million Chinese students were learning English, while only about 24,000 American students were learning their language of Chinese (3). Schools all over the U.S. are seeing a rise in budget cuts, which ultimately leads to the slack in the foreign language classes (1). The reason these classes are the first to go? Simple. They are not seen as a necessary course of study, like reading or history may be (2). Author David L. Sigsbee mentions this exact problem in his article “Why Americans Don’t Study Foreign Languages and What We Can Do About That.” Sigsbee argues his point by mentioning not only the cuts of these classes but their lack of continuity throughout the years (47). Students often take one year of foreign language in elementary school, two years their freshman and sophomore years of high school, and two years during college (46-47). With little-to-no continuous study, how are students expected to become fluent? Basically, what we’re saying is, there is no constant instruction throughout their school years, which does students no good. With all of this said, one can now see Caplan and Carbonell’s point of view, but I would still disagree. Yes, the school curriculum of foreign languages is lacking, but throwing it out altogether is entirely unnecessary. Not ever attempting to learn a foreign language because of the missteps in our e