Bilingual education
Bilingual education is a very unique opportunity that should be more freely offered to students. Bilingual education allows students to get out of their comfort zones and learn in a new and challenging environment. Not only will this help cross cultural and language barriers, but it will advance the education of those participating.
Studies have shown that bilingual children have higher oral, reading and writing scores on average than monolingual children. Being bilingual also helps prevent neurological diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. Because of the benefits to bilingual education, it should be incorporated from an early age.
In my school, taking a second language wasn’t offered until age 13, making it extremely difficult to grasp concepts and speak the language without a heavy accent. Learning a language later on in life is a slower and less fluid process than if it is done at an earlier age. I am bilingual and have spoken Spanish since I was a child. It has opened so many opportunities and has helped me advance in many different fields of study. These opportunities should be available to all who wish to participate. Bilingual education is the new frontier of cultural and educational advancements and should be implemented from an early age in all schools.
—Mariah Hoy
Waynesboro, Virginia
BYU parking
“Nineteen percent (of BYU students) live in BYU college-owned, –operated or –affiliated housing, while 81 percent of students live off campus” (www.usnews.com). BYU students are required to live in BYU-approved housing but are forced to live far away from campus because UVU students compete for that housing. Students must drive, causing parking shortages. A lack of parking impacts students, faculty, staff and neighboring communities.
One BYU faculty member stated, “There isn’t the proper infrastructure for two universities living in Provo. … It’s mayhem when school is in session; apartments are full, and there isn’t enough parking for the people who live there. Parking blocks from where you live is ridiculous.” BYU wants to be a walking campus, but students aren’t able to walk these distances in a timely manner. Housing doesn’t provide parking for each tenant, forcing street parking in city neighborhoods, often many blocks away from home or campus.
The bus rapid transit system between BYU and UVU won’t fix the issue. Not all BYU students are able to live near BYU, and this creates the need for cars and parking. A rapid transit system doesn’t address this. BYU must build more parking garages and/or require approved housing to do the same, possibly requiring approved housing to be made available first to BYU students. Parking is an issue impacting university students, faculty, staff and community members at and around BYU.
By building more parking areas on campus and requiring approved housing to do the same, everyone will have needed parking while being good neighbors. Enough’s enough.
—Capri Baker
Parker, Colorado
Creating new vocabulary
Educators, students and every person around the world should put effort into creating “mixed-feeling words.” There are numerous feeling-expressing words; however, is there vocabulary to use whenever you have mixed feelings? No.
Numerous languages have been created during the past decades — then why not vocabularies? In particular, we need vocabulary for expressing our delicate feelings. When I say I’m “mad,” I could mean “I am really mad right now” or “I am about to explode”; however, I could also mean “I am mad but desperately need a shoulder to rely on.” Currently, perfect words for our feelings do exist. Apathetic or indifferent — which means “disinterested” — or inquisitive—which means “interested” are good examples.
So, why are there no words for mixed feelings? We frequently experience more than just one feeling. Using vocabulary that only indicates single emotions is not enough. Whenever I have gone through hard situations and had mixed feelings, I was frustrated — it was hard for me to convey my feelings because there were no good words to express how I felt. People around me were also frustrated because they could not understand me.
How would the world look if we had enough words to express our confusing feelings? Everything might be much easier. Vocabulary words for mixed feelings should be created.
—Mihyun Kim
South Korea
