ASL Should Be Offered In Schools

By Cozette Calderon

Growing up Hard of Hearing in a family where American Sign Language is taught alongside English is one of the greatest gifts that has been given to me. Being fluent in American Sign Language has not only welcomed me into the world known as the Deaf Community but has given me a medium to express myself that I have been unable to find elsewhere. I have experienced the joy of learning sign language from those around me while also taking ASL classes at a local community college. So, I was disappointed when I entered my public high school to see that the only offered languages were Spanish and French. 

Spanish and French can feel limiting 

Language classes are one of the most intimidating and sometimes disheartening for many. Why is this? Well, from personal experience mixed with asking fellow students their opinion, I found a few reasons.

  • In many language classes, the ability to pronounce words can be one of the most pressured areas of practice. Students struggle to replicate accents inherent in many foreign languages. While it is true that an accent can become more natural the more one practices a language, such a skill can take years to perfect. Students in high school don’t have 24/7 exposure to a language, so becoming even semi-fluent orally or even in writing and reading is nearly impossible unless one puts in work outside of school. If students don’t take an interest in becoming fluent in the language offered at their school, why would we expect them to improve on their own time, especially when America as a country doesn’t stress the importance of being bilingual. 
  • Language classes are often passive when in the student’s seat. The students go in and stay with one teacher the whole year, meaning they only get one perspective of the language. They practice vocabulary and syntax over and over. When they go home, there’s no motivation or, sometimes, mode to continue to learn because finding accurate information online can be extremely difficult. Not to mention, finding a native or fluent-speaking community to practice with is difficult unless you live in a country that surrounds you with the language you’re learning every day. 
  • Language classes are treated as a subject. However, if we want students to grow in fluency, languages need to be treated as skills (Smart Language Learning). Kids memorize syntax and grammar rules. They study, not to practice the language, but to answer questions about the language. This doesn’t promote real language skills that will be beneficial in the future. 

How would offering ASL fix these issues? 

  •      ASL is not an oral language, which relieves stress on those who truly have to fight against their tongue to get words out. The most basic view of ASL is about memorizing which movements correlate with vocabulary words, which people find easier than learning how to move the tongue and mouth in a way they have never done before. Not to mention, schools and parents often include a bit of sign at the very beginning of a child’s life, often to teach kids how to ask to go to the bathroom or how to spell their name. This means a majority of children have had basic exposure to ASL and have a greater likelihood of expanding on previous knowledge. 
  • ASL classes are not passive. It’s not about listening to a teacher and occasionally responding or reading and fixing pronunciation. ASL is learned through  repetition of movement that can not be learned from a book. It must be taught through interactions. This means during class time, the students must stay active in the lesson if they wish to pass the class and learn. It is almost like call and response: The teacher shows a sign and the class must copy. This keeps the students attention because ASL’s number one strategy of learning is active usage of the language. The more you repeat and use it in conversation, the more natural it will become. 
  • Students are also often required to attend Deaf events for credit. This encourages putting the subject into a skill-based environment. One must actually interact with native speakers for credit, meaning they’re gaining access to a community of supporters and are gaining different perspectives. The Deaf community welcomes new learners, so it’s quite easy to make new friends or simply acquaintances that are willing to go slow and help you grow. This environment takes away the concept of a language just being a subject or study, instead turning it into a skill. 
  • Of course, if one wants to become fluent in ASL, they need to put in the same amount of work as they would for any other language. However, unlike Spanish or French where syntax is one of the most important aspects of the language, ASL offers more freedom. If you switch the order of a sign with another, the chances of the main idea being lost is low. Though ASL does have its own sentence structure, learners often find it easy because of the flexibility the syntax offers. With time, the syntax becomes more comfortable and less reliant on English’s base, but the idea of the syntax not ruling the learning process of the language means more time allocated for front-loading vocabulary. This means a higher likelihood of being able to put the language skills learned into practice in the real world faster. 

Popularity 

Spanish and French are popular in the world, but they’re not the most popular. Mandarin is the most common language. So, if we’re going by popularity, why are we not offering Mandarin? It is true that in California a majority of speakers rely on Spanish—around 10 million Spanish speakers, to be exact (Lighthouse Translations). However, if we were to go by language popularity around our town of Benicia, the California School of the Deaf is just 40 minutes away. So, it’s likely that ASL would be well used by our students at Benicia High—not just in the future but currently because the native speakers of the language live nearby.

Is adding ASL beneficial  for schools?  

ASL and the Deaf community is currently becoming more mainstream in the media. Since 2018, more Deaf actors, like Troy Kotsur, Sandra Mae Frank, and Millicent Simmonds, have become well known. Marvel, The Bachelor, and even Broadway productions are including ASL and Deaf performers. This has started an avalanche of ASL gaining popularity among youths. In fact, according to a Modern Language Association survey, seen in the Chicago Tribune, ASL has taken fourth place as the most commonly studied language class. The New York Times states that ASL has taken third place as of 2018. 

So why does ASL’s popularity aid in the argument to add classes to schools? People are intrigued. We don’t need a report to show that when people are interested in something, they’re more likely to pursue it and enjoy learning about it. Considering school absences have started to rise, Fortune states that more than a quarter of students have missed up to 10% of the school year, and a Stanford professor compiled evidence that shows 6.5 million students have become chronically absent, perhaps adding a class teenagers will actually enjoy will help boost attendance rates. 

If we are hoping to increase bilingual student rates, it will take more than four to five classes a week with little to no effort being put in at home because the student does not find interest in the language taught. Ideally, a school could offer a variety of languages, but, sadly, high schools are more limited than colleges. So why not add ASL to encourage more at-home learning. Online, accurate dictionaries showing ASL are offered, along with YouTube channels run by Deaf people offering learning support. By giving students a class, we’re offering them an in-person outlet to learn something they enjoy. 

The Deaf community has a culture, too

The argument one may come up with that French and Spanish offer a cultural experience while ASL does not is simply inaccurate. The Deaf community does have a culture. From proper etiquette to cultural experiences, teaching the language is not properly done without including the culture. Just for a few examples:

We help student’s futures

School is all about preparing students for their futures, whether training looks like preparing for university or going into the workforce. Well, universities are struggling to fill seats. According to the Harvard Crimson, 1.6 million students  didn’t even begin to cover how much undergraduate enrollment shrank. According to BestCollages, only “38.1% of all 18 to 24-year-olds” are enrolled in a graduate or doctoral-level program. So, why does this matter when deciding to add ASL to schools? It means that more students are taking less interest in college, leaving their career opportunities limited. 

    Becoming fluent in ASL offers a job opportunity as an ASL interpreter. This is a job  that doesn’t require one to attend a four-year university. While it is true that most interpreters go into a program, it is not required to be hired if you can prove you are fully competent in the language. 

     Interpreters can be certified or uncertified, which does make a difference in salary. However, even without being certified, interpreters can make upwards of  30 dollars an hour, and some are even making $65 in the Bay Area, according to the owner of a local interpreting service, Interpreting and Consulting Services, Janessa Devine. Being a certified interpreter can increase pay up to 65 or 100 dollars an hour. This is well over the $15.50 minimum wage in California. 

Being an interpreter offers personal freedom because you decide your own hours, and there are a variety of positions: school interpreters, medical interpreters, musical and play interpreters, etc. The best part about the variety is that you are not chained to one area your whole life. You have the freedom to jump from category to category. 

Being an interpreter myself, I am able to attest to the fact that ASL has offered me a bright future in being able to start saving money to attend college. Not only that, but ASL has connected me to a diverse culture—a culture that I want to support so it can thrive. This leads to the final point: 

ASL being Taught at Schools Helps the Deaf Community 

Teaching ASL doesn’t just bring a language, it brings a community and culture along with it. Native signers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing themselves are the ones who should be hired to teach others because it is their native language and culture, meaning they know the details better than anyone else. Teaching ASL leads to a better understanding of how to communicate with deaf people instead of having to freeze up like a deer in headlights (like I’ve seen many times before). 

Jobs often discriminates against or makes the process increasingly difficult for deaf people to survive in a workplace. By opening a position that welcomes deaf people, we are helping the livelihoods of not only our own students but others as well. 

We’re also offering a chance to wipe away misconceptions about the Deaf community. 

The number of times someone has said to me “I know ASL” and proceeded to show me gang signs or nonsense is one too many to count. Perhaps by supervising an opportunity to show what ASL is actually like, instances of rude or mocking behavior or truly innocent people who are clueless to the language and culture would become minimal because they would be informed. 

Overview

     American Sign Language has brought me into a world that I wouldn’t be the same without. I hope that by including ASL in high schools, people will get to experience the joy that being a part of the Deaf community can offer. We can provide more accessibility, while promoting knowledge instead of ignorance, making the world a creative and connected place to be by offering just a singular class. 

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