Source: C.C.L.T By: Brianna Quinonez Countries around the world are constantly striving to prepare their students for the global market, corporate world, and the industrial life. Subjects that are mainly encouraged are math, science, and technology. However, there is one subject that is not only helpful but can be controversial when turned against: foreign language. In one major case, Morocco is now starting to expect their students to be quadrilingual, or being fluent in four languages. The official languages of Morocco are Arabic and Tamazight, also known as Berber, which is a indigenous language native to North Africa. Moroccan officials also want students to be proficient in English and French. While having Moroccan students learn and become fluent in English and French in addition to their two native languages isn’t seen as the issue, learning them is considered one. According to CSIS, “The problem comes not from the scale of the educational task, but from the provision to teach some core subjects, such as the sciences, in French and English rather than in Arabic.” The problem started after Morocco ended the decision to teach only in Arabic. According to the Pulitzer Center, “The decision reflects a widespread sentiment that schooling in Arabic has failed to prepare students for higher education or globalized labor markets.” This decision is under fire, as many people who are from Arabic descendant see the language as a major part of their culture and their identity. The choice to teach students French comes from Morocco’s history. According to Journey Beyond Travel, “France and Spain controlled Morocco in the early 1900s,” which is one of the reasons many Moroccans today still speak French, since the language was learned and passed down to descendants in many families before Morocco gained independence in 1956. The main reason to teach English is because of its status as a world language. According to BBC, “English is the world's favourite lingua franca - the language people are most likely to turn to when they don't share a first language.” However, English is not as common as French is. According to Morocco World News, “66 percent of Moroccans can read and write in French, compared to only 18.3 percent who can read and write in English.” While this was census was taken in September of 2014, it does give us an insight as to which of the “foreign” languages are more popular among the citizens of the North African country. While there are many disagreements about whether Moroccan students should be learning in languages that still aren’t as natural as Arabic and Berber, the argument for it will forever be to prepare its students for the world in languages that are more mainstream than Arabic.
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