lol

we all know who here has only a high school education at best

lol

foreign language

pfft
what grade would i have to go to to get that

too hard!

don tufts: Wait a decade. If it really is all about the "calculus" and business, then we should be speaking Chinese or Hindi in no time!

i have never supported obama, but i do on this issue. he is absolutely correct. monolingualism is a curable disease. it would benefit us enormously and make us more competitive on a global scale. it is absolutely absurd that anybody would oppose this. isolationism/racism/fear of the other, will render us obsolete as a people. as a bilingual hispanic american, i support the concept that ALL foreign language learning should become an integral part of our educational system-and yes not just spanish.

john: I understand the Indian dilemma; I have many Indian friends. However, there are many countries where citizens know multiple languages and everybody gets along just fine.

First of all... non-issue.

Sen. Obama is challenging the No Child Left Behind disaster than the 'Education President/War President' forced upon our children. (Please don't comment on NCLB unless you know what it's about.)

NCLB has robbed classrooms of the time needed to teach more than just foreign language. Because of the various boney fingers reaching out from NCLB, teachers spend an outrageous amount of time helping students learn how to take a battery of tests -- yes, teaching how to take the test! -- rather than being allowed to teach the subject materials that every student needs. Less time for math, reading, science, English... and, yes... foreign languages.

Forget the garbage spewed by idiots like indp,voter... to advance in business -- and make more money -- a second, third, or fourth language is vital.

Eliminate NCLB and you'll see our children's education improve dramatically.

And why doesn't he learn spanish?

it appears many of the anti- multiple language posters are barely able to articulate themselves in english. it is no wonder they feel threatned by the concept of learning another language. i speak spanish fluently, and can understand a little italian, and some tewa the language of my maternal ancestral people. i feel blessed. i did not speak a word of english when i started grade school.

Yes by all means we should learn a second language. I speak English and Spanish - wonderful. If that is what BHO meant it wouldn't be an issue. What he really meant is that we should be like the Europeans. Why? I don't know why Americans should try to be number 2 in the world, it's like Tiger Woods trying to be Phil Mickleson. BHO is an idiot and a true hater of freedom and America....Dr. Atkins

I'm not surprised that an elitist from Hyde Park would be calling for kids to learn a second language. Motivated kids, highly qualified instructors and a great school system can produce great results. How many of us have local schools that can boast those key factors.

I live in a great community - with people at various income levels (though probably few on public assistance). Our schools are busy working on the fundamentals and trying to insure that each child gets what they need. I'm confident that most kids, average to learning disabled are getting much of what they need. Gifted students? That's a whole other story (my two are pretty average thank goodness). Obama needs to move beyond the confines of Hyde Park - where I'm sure that his proposal will be met with great enthusiasm.

In our town, our budget doesn't provide transportation to students who live less than 2 miles from their school or cover athletic/club costs - resulting in fees that can be a hardship for middle class families. Before communities like mine can make a commitment for each child to become fluent in another language, there's much more work to be done in more basic and real world areas.

Like his comments about not being too worried about escalating gas prices, this bilingual proposal smacks of Marie Antoinette's famous remarks when she learned that working class frenchmen had difficulty affording bread: "Let them eat cake." He's delusional and doesn't understand the challenges of maintaining a middle class lifestyle.

Learning to speak more than one language is admirable but Obama saying we should just cements my impression that he wants to make us more like Europeans. No thanks Obama, and by the way the European socialist policies seem to be backfiring on them so much that now they are oftentimes voting in more conservatives.

Just can't understand how damn on earth people always manage to see problems or sense a flip flop attitude in any little thing Obama says ? the truth of the matter is at this present time of history and after 8 years of being completely sucked out of its fundamental values , AMERICA doesn't deserve him.

I live in a Europe country and I think the most Europeans speaks just their own language. In the USA enough if the people speaking English. I really don't understand why must the Americans learn Spanish. Why not German? I know three languages but just one is perfect. If you learn a language and don't use it you forget it.

My son studied four foreign languages in school and he works for an international corporation now traveling. He has yet to use anything other than English in his his business transactions or communications. Perhaps the reason so many Europeans speak several languages is their countries are like our states and people travel/move back and forth between them--like France and Italy.

You speak English very well Bridget with what I detect is probably a nice accent.

I think most of you are missing the real issue here. It's not that he says that we should learn a second language, there's nothing wrong with that. It's that he's misdirecting his earlier dismissal of the fact that immigrants should have to learn English when they live here.

By changing the topic to a discussion of what our kids should do, he's glossing over the fact that he gave lip service to people having to learn English to integrate into our society.

Not to mention it's a fallacy to point to European tourists and say that they all speak English, since I'm sure rural Europeans don't all speak a second language fluently. As anyone who has ever travelled to the country in any European nation, this just simply isn't true.

This guy is great at spinning arguments, but all of his falsities are going to catch up to him at some point.

Obama tend to use "sweet" words like "refine" and Clarify, Like we use them for Oil and butter lol. good try!

Now the republicans are against education, but then thast goes with being republican in the first place. Stupid is as stupid does. Some even think "merci" is spanish, wow.

Perhaps it is more important for every US student to be graduated from high school and understand how to complete a job application in English before demanding foreign languages classes. Remember, only half of students even complete high school in some areas. I am for every student to get a higher education but an education for a job is most important.

from Louisiana, i speak english and french. but i have a suggestion for mr. obama: you, too, need to learn a language--telling the truth. that would serve you well in government, busines...

Good one Kathy, but he did become a millionaire and well traveled.