Students around the world are generally expected to learn a second language. In some cases students are even required to spend another shorter period of their education learning a third language, and in some cases a fourth language course may also be offered. This happens in most European countries, for example in Portugal, where students are required to take 12 years of English alongside their native language (in this case Portuguese), and may also be required to take 3 to 6 additional years of training in French. their educational path to obtain a high school diploma. But this is something the U.S. Department of Education seems to have overlooked. In addition to being considered the official native language in the United States, large numbers of people not only in the United States but around the world understand, speak, and write English enough to survive in an English-speaking country at the high school level. The same cannot be said of most high school graduates in America, where a significant number of people in this country don't even speak proper English, much less a second language as basic as Spanish. According to the 2007 Census Bureau (Longley), one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home. These numbers have grown by 69% in 10 years. These numbers are nothing less than alarming with such diversity in this country. We should all have a much closer and cohesive education in English and at least one other language. While cultural diversity should be celebrated and promoted, a sense of unity and mutual understanding must also be part of education not only in America but throughout the world. Before proceeding to explain how important it is to learn a second language... ... middle of paper ......m/cs/censusstatistic/a/foreignlang.htm>Marmolejo, Francisco. “Foreign Language Proficiency Deficits: What's Wrong with the U.S. Education System?” Globally. Np, 09 November 2010. Web. 04 November 2013."New York State Foreign Language Teachers Association." Scholarships, grants and loans. 23rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 842. Education. Network. November 4, 2013. .Shaver, Annis N. “Foreign Language Teaching.” Encyclopedia of the social and cultural foundations of education. Ed. Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr.Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 2009. 351-53. Instruction. Network. November 4. 2013. .