Carter High School Should Teach A Third Language- ASL

Eleven million people in America suffer from severe or profound hearing loss (these people are under the loose term of deaf), and nearly 20% of the global population has some form of hearing loss. Yet, even though American Sign Language is the third most common language in America- besides English and Spanish, Carter High School does not teach it as a foreign language. Many people would love to change this, as many have spoken up within the school and said that if given the opportunity they would love to take the class. So, that being said, Carter should offer ASL as a foreign language class for the logical aspect of it, inclusivity, and to include students’ wants and needs into the curriculum. An ASL class would be extremely helpful to students not only because it engages them in learning in a more “hands-on” experience, but also because of how commonly the language is used. I personally suffer from SSD, single-sided deafness, and have been in many situations overwhelmed by how hard it is to try and decipher what people are saying- and that is only with half of my hearing gone. For people that are fully deaf, lip reading is tiresome, and finding someone that they can communicate could brighten their whole day. Many students have all agreed that if the class was available they would take it, so why not listen to the student body and give them a class they want, and could possibly need? This could open up a multitude of job opportunities or even careers for the students, and even if that is not the path they would want to take, people who rely on ASL as their only form of communication could be inside the students’ work or day-to-day environment. Giving the students the ability to learn this beautiful language would not only be enjoyable for the people taking it, but imagine the lives the school could change by adding inclusivity into the community. Some may say that Carter already has a couple of options for foreign languages, but in actuality would it not be more logical to make room to teach the third most used language in America? Even at that, there are plenty of opportunities to add extra classes to Carter- without having to take out any that have existed before. Some may also say that we already have an ASL club, but that has actually ended due to a lack of a teacher. Not only that, but a club is an entirely different experience than a class. This is because not everyone is able to stay after school, and with the lack of a professionally educated teacher or funding for the club, it was more of a hang-out rather than an actual learning environment. Therefore, an ASL class would not only be a more logical class to teach, that would include teaching students their preferred language, but it would also bring more inclusivity into the school and eventually out into the community.  

An art piece made by a Carter student with brail and fingerspell representation