East Tennessee students defend high school foreign language requirement

High school students in Tennessee may eventually no longer need to take a foreign language class to graduate. But some insist that these lessons go beyond the classroom — by teaching empathy for people unlike themselves.

The Tennessee Board of Education recently held a meeting allowing the public to comment on the suggested change of dropping the requirement that high school students take two years of foreign language classes. The session led to an impassioned defense of language studies from a pair of students.

Emma Hatcher and MaKayla Webb, both college juniors at East Tennessee State University, drove four hours to speak before the board. They both stated that neither wanted to study a foreign language in high school and only did so because of the state requirement. However, the 20-ye