Study: College and Beyond

[PerryChase]

It’s absolutely not true that you don’t need language skills to succeed in career. If you’re going to be an executive for a company in China, you’re better off speaking Chinese. If you want to work in Mexico, you’ll be better received if you speak Spanish; plus you’ll be happier in your new home.

It all comes down to money. In USA, corporations don’t have Spanish menu options for nothing. They don’t spend millions staffing Spanish speaking call centers or develop software interfaces in Spanish if they don’t generate incremental revenue.

Personally, whenever I use an ATM, self-serve register, or call center, I always use the Spanish option. I can assure you that when the managers sit down to review their sales data, they look at how many customers chose the Spanish option. The more people choose the Spanish option, the more Spanish speaking staff companies will have to hire (better for Spanish speaking job seekers). Lowes has a call center that you can call to get service in a number of languages. That’s the kind of customer service that’s necessary to succeed in this globalized world.

What if a manager is called upon to head an office in China? He won’t be very happy nor will he do very well in that society if he doesn’t speak the language. Guess who will have no problem relocating to China if the company chooses to move its research center to Shanghai? What if you want to start a company serving Spanish speaking immigrants?

The more languages you speak, the more options you’ll have in the future.

If you speak Spanish you should use it to your advantage — differentiate yourself from non-Spanish speakers. That’s your competitive advantage, in your career and in life. In my view, if you can bring-in more revenue for the company, you should be paid more than English-only speakers. For example, if you can develop software (or write an instruction manual) in English and Spanish, then you’re obviously worth more than an otherwise equally qualified English-only employee.

[Chrispy]

One of the best reasons to learn another language is to get out of the mindset that we are the center of the world. It’s not just the language learned – it’s also the customs of another populace that are invaluable.

[powayseller]

mydogsarelazy, you’ve fostered much creativity in your home. That’s really great. Now, about that long URL, that doubled the width of the entire thread… (Pretty please, use Links)

Interesting perspective, PD on sports. My entire family is very toned and in shape, but are not on any teams right now. Competitive sports is not the only way to get fit. My son did 3 years of competitive soccer starting at age 7, but he is one of the 80% of kids who drops out of team sports by age 13.

I have to say, the number of times he laughed and felt happy playing soccer is probably counted on one hand. But running with his dog, playing flag football with his friends, swimming laps with his sister, all cause laughter and squeals of delight.

Personally, I think competitive sports are great only if the child is asking to do it. In any case, every child needs physical activity, whether a dance class or just riding his bike around town.

It’s very interesting that many parents sign up their kids for sports teams, thinking the child is learning team spirit. From what I see, “team” sports are less about being a group, than about competing against each other. The best players in the team get the most playing time, while the others sit out. Like in band, where you compete against your classmates for the best chair, you’re constantly trying to be better than your mates, to get more recognition, more playing time, more approval of coach and parents.

While team sports are satisfying for kids who like to compete in this way, they do not nurture a feeling of comraderie and teamwork in the sense that I consider important. Real teamwork is found in building something together, like the house my kids built on a recent mission trip, or my daughter’s participation in her church youth group, or my son’s movie making.

At what age should kids start competing, and getting ready for the adult world? At what age should a tree’s support post be removed? With a tree, you don’t remove the post to encourage the tree to be independent and strong against the wind, but wait until it has developed sufficient strength to go it alone. Kids get plenty of competition in their lives, so I find it valuable to give them opportunities to work in tandem, in harmony. If everything they do is a competition, where in their lives is the joy of just doing, learning, being?

So while I like competitive sports, I think they take up too much time in our culture, and are not sufficiently balanced by doing sports for sports’ sake. A middle schooler should have no more than 3 days per week in a competitive sport, including games on weekends, and spend the other 4 days doing a sport for pure enjoyment: bike ride with mom, running with dog, basketball with friends, swimming, etc. This way, the child is not constantly led by adults, and trying to get their approval.

[Anonymous]

Spanish speakers in the U.S. are a dime a dozen so being bilengual here is simply not a competitive advantage. If financial gain is the only goal, you are much better served spending your energy on an advanced degree, MBA, etc. The only jobs that really require Spanish speaking are retail jobs in areas heavily populated by illegal immigrants. None of these types of jobs are relevant to this discussion.

The real advantges to learn other languages are to gain an appreciation for other cultures and countries, particularly if you learn as part of an immersion program or study abroad program.

However, the people who say that Americans will have to know Spanish to function in the future are full of BS. That is purely an urban myth.

[PD]

I certainly do not agree with parents who force their children to participate in certain sports or put a lot of pressure on them. Parents should try to find a sport or sports that their child really enjoys. Not all sports, teams or coaches are cut-throat. There are also a lot of sports out there outside of baseball and soccer.

From seventh grade onward, I practiced at least three hours of sports every day after school, all year long. It did not hurt me one bit. In fact, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I loved my sports, I loved competing, I built great friendships and I learned a lot of valuable life lessons. My grades never suffered and neither did the grades of my friends.

Thank you Title 9!

[JES]

I took German in college, lived over there a semester, and have yet to use it in my professional life. I even worked for two years for a German company and travelled to Munich 4 times! Spanish would have been more practical. It really depends on what you want to do with your career, but as far as a language you can’t go wrong with, I vote Spanish. If you want to work for the FBI or in military intelligence, you should take Mandarin, Arabic or Korean. We shouldn’t be encouraging our kids to take German and French since they are really of no use except in niche areas these days, and personal enjoyment of course. Assuming we want our kids to learn what is useful.

[ybc]

Knowing other languages definitely helps one to appreciate other cultures. I studied Japanese on my own in high school, and then took some classes in college. Although I never used it, and almost forgot it completely, I appreciate Japanese’ thinking patterns a lot more because I once studied its language. For example, being an Asian and being a woman, I try not to speak anything in Japanese (not that my Japanese is that good) in business settings because I might actually be taken less seriously. (I know of such stories). In other settings, I was told that my accent was actually quite good and was questioned whether I was ethnic Japanese. So there goes the dilemma — people might mistake me as an overseas Japanese who didn’t learn her native language!

While I agree with JES that knowing another language is not necessary in one’s professional career, it can be very helpful. When I travel in China, I can tell what those Chinese executives were really saying/thinking much better than my American collegues who soly relies on translation. Plus, it’s just a lot more fun. People are a lot more expressive when they speak in their native languages, and it’s more interesting to get to know them in their native languages.

Whatever the case, kids learn languages much faster than adults, so why not!

[sdduuuude]

“All that Ivy league stuff is so overrated.”

I think this comment could only come from someone who has never been in an Ivy League school, or any top-notch private college.

You have pointed out the worst of such institutions, which is likely inspired by movies such as “Risky Business” and “Legally Blonde.” Such evil competitiveness exists, but it is not as prominent as Hollywood likes to show.

I’m not Ivy League, but the institution I attended is considered on par with such. I agree with your position on not driving children to be overly competitive, but since you don’t even know what “all that Ivy League stuff” is, I suggest you not belittle it.

There are so many positives in that environment, I can’t begin to explain. For example, I learned how to properly analyze markets.

[CardiffBaseball]

My kids both play travel baseball, and I’d love for them to quit. I make it quite clear that they can quit at any time but they don’t want to. I have absolutely said no long exotic trips for baseball tournaments.

A kid who truly wants to be a great ball-player would need to treat learning great mechanics much the same way a classical pianist toils over the keyboard. I don’t think my kids are going to be Pros, so I am questioning why should they go through all that.

However I have stopped short of quiting for them (by simply no longer writing checks). I think it’s their decision at this point.

[ybc]

sdude,

“I’m not Ivy League, but the institution I attended is considered on par with such.” … ” There are so many positives in that environment, I can’t begin to explain”.

If you don’t mind me asking, which school, and what do you the best about these schools? professors? Students? career placement opportunities?

[sdduuuude]

The best thing was the students I met.

This was a graduate program. Coming from a state undergrad school, I thought I was pretty smart.

Meeting them made me understand what smart and successful really meant.

[ybc]

sdduuuude, thanks for that. From my own experience, I’d agree that it’s the student body that make a school what it is. But don’t you think that the fact that you went to a state undergrad then went on to the better (I assume) grad school says that it’s OK to go to a state undergrad? I always believe that it’s a kid’s own internal motivation matters the most. If a kid goes to Ivy League only to fulfill his/her parents’ wishes or because that’s what’s believed to be the best, then he or she didn’t have a chance to develop what truly motivates him/her. That, to me, is a sad thing. Otherwise, of course, going to an Ivy League school can be great.

[sdduuuude]

“that it’s OK to go to a state undergrad”
Sure. It is also OK to go to Ivy League undergrad.

Certainly, an intense undergrad experience wasn’t for me. But, I’m not sure discouraging kids from going to great schools is the right approach.

[ybc]

I don’t think that I’d discouraging kids from going to a good school. I just think that it’s not necessary to put a lot of pressure on a kid to go to a top school. Kids who follow a path that’s defined for them may not be as well balanced as kids who actively pursue what they truly value. It seems nowdays that middle class parents might have put too much emphasis on kids going to a top school — that’s the impression that I got from reading articles. I went to top schools in China and in the US, and I got to know many very smart people. So I value the education that one gets from good schools. But I’ve also met very smart and motivated people who’ve attended average schools — hence my conclusion that college / grad school is just one step in one’s education, important, but it doesn’t determine a person’s future.

[Author]

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