At a Town Hall in Atkinson, IL, last week, President Obama referred to the importance of learning a foreign language for all Americans, as it makes student more employable and competitive in the global economy:

“I will tell you, though, just in case there are any French teachers here or foreign language teachers, having a foreign language, that’s important, too. That makes you so much more employable -- (applause) -- because if you go to a company and they’re doing business in France or Belgium or Switzerland or Europe somewhere, and they find out you’ve got that language skill, that’s going to be important as well. And we don’t do that as much as we should; we don’t emphasize that as much as we should here in the United States. (Applause.)”