Why CHS should teach sign language

Marissa Phillips, Columns Editor

The ability to communicate is important beyond what words can express. It lets us understand each other, and it allows us to work together to create things better than we could ever make alone. That’s why it’s great that CHS features a variety of foreign language classes, from Spanish to German to French.

However, there is one language that deserves to be taught by schools but is often overlooked: sign language. Schools that offer any classes on this language are few and far between, but there’s no reason this should be the case.

Very few people here don’t speak English and require you to know a second language to talk to them. Meanwhile, plenty of people throughout the country suffer from hearing issues. Sign language is necessary to talk to the completely deaf, but people who are significantly hard of hearing are much easier to communicate with in this language.

Additionally, sign language can be used in ways normal languages can’t due to being spoken with hands instead of your voice. It’s a completely silent way to communicate with others. This can be useful when you need to be quiet, like if you need to communicate in a lockdown or have a secret to tell.

“Well, ASL is considered a foreign language, and since we have deaf and hard of hearing students in our population I feel like it would be a great asset and something students could use,” said Sheila Chaffin, an educational interpreter at CHS.

Sign language is unique compared to other languages, and it’s a shame many schools overlook it when choosing which languages to teach. However, our school doesn’t need to follow this unfortunate pattern any longer. A sign language class would be a great addition to CHS’ roster of classes.