“We are trying to prepare you for the rest of your life.” How many of you have heard this or similar phrases from your high school principal or teachers before? If that is really the case, then why aren’t they offering foreign languages that will actually help us?

Of course, Latin is useful for doctors, and Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, but what about those who can’t hear any language? American Sign Language, or ASL, has grown in popularity among universities, but there are an alarmingly few number of high schools that offer ASL as a foreign language credit.

After speaking with Ms. Panagos and hearing about her experience with foreign languages, I can understand how learning a language isn’t just about learning the language, but about learning the culture and learning new things that you may not have even realized about your own native language. This point is emphasized in freshman Emily Bethea’s statement, “Before I took Spanish 2, I didn’t know there were sub-tenses in the English language,” referring to tenses such as preterite and progressive.

That said, the deaf culture is one that few people know about. Did you know that there is a Dictionary of American Sign Language? Did you know that not speaking is highly valued in this culture? So little is known about ASL, and there are only a handful of high schools trying to do anything about it. While there are some universities that offer sign language as a foreign language, how is that really helping anyone? It has been proven through studies that the older you get, the harder it is to learn a new language, and college is the time for finding and preparing for your career, not taking the time needed to learn a new language! Who really wants to spend even more time and money at college to learn something that would have been easier to learn in high school?

Mrs. Murray, a teacher at Bob Jones High School, stated that she believed that learning sign was important because “by learning sign language, one literally can open the doors of communication globally.  Sign Language is a universal language that could break down language barriers with body language, facial expressions, and one’s two hands.  There would be no mistranslated texts, messages, or speech.”

Mrs. Murray knows firsthand the importance of signing because during her time at a school in Lauderdale County she had several deaf students, and even though some of them were able to read lips, this was only the case when the speaker was directly facing the student, which was less than ideal for everyone. After taking the time to learn sign language from one of her students, Mrs. Murray continues to share this knowledge through Patriot Path.

“Sign language is a language that asks one goal for each person in the conversation and that is to tune out the outside distractions and focus on the conversation at hand. (No pun intended.) One must watch the other person as he/she signs in order to correctly interpret what is being signed. Look away for a moment and one could miss an important piece of the story or discussion,” Mrs. Murray stated.  “Think of the possibilities if everyone knew the sign for ‘peace’ or ‘please.'”

It is my belief that even though some people will be forced to learn to sign because they are born or gradually become deaf, there should be a way for those of us who have been granted the privilege of being able to hear to communicate with those who are not as fortunate.