Hispanic population on the rise in the U.S.

School systems around the nation are making it mandatory for students to take at least two years of a foreign language by the time they graduate high school.

In the past 10 years the Hispanic population has become the largest minority population in the United States and still growing. According to the census bureau the Hispanic population is going to rise 24.4 percent or 102.6 million by 2050. Every time you make a phone call to an automated message machine they offer Spanish and English. This sudden rise has caused school boards to alter their curriculum in order to add a foreign language mandatory course.

After the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1994 the U.S. has conducted much of its free enterprise in the country of Mexico. "It is important to understand ones culture as well as be able to speak the native language in order to conduct business," Said Missy Green a Spanish Professor at the University of Mississippi. Green however does not agree with the idea that our youth is being forced to learn a new language. "I feel if you really want to learn a new language that is awesome, but if you are forced to sit in a classroom you don't want how is it going to interest you," Green says.

Ccurrently a full time Spanish teacher Missy Green has studied the Spanish language since the beginning of high school, finishing second place in the state competition as a Senior. Her main focus is Human Rights mainly in Latin American countries. She has lived in three Spanish speaking countries giving her insight all different aspects of Spanish culture. Missy plans on retiring from teaching and begin working for her parents in the international food business where she will continue using her knowledge of the Spanish language and culture.

As much as Hispanic culture has seen rise in America more and more people around the globe are beginning to speak English. In Europe they only taught students how to read English but never how to speak it, but in the past five years Europe has seen a rise in the schools teaching their students how to read, write, and speak English. "I have been going over seas most of my life and the more and more I go back the more and more Europeans are becoming interested in learning the English language, it is a very big step for international trade and business," says Green.

Thanks to Spanish teachers like Ms. Green America's youth is learning more and more about the new vastly expanding Hispanic culture in the United States. Who knows in 900 years we all might be speaking English and Spanish.