ASL vs typical foreign language

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts re how colleges might view 4 years of ASL in HS vs 4 years of a spoken foreign language?

My rising 9th grader is very interested in learning ASL but would need to drop his other language (would be going into Spanish 3).

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the college. Some will not accept ASL as a foreign language, others will. If you have specific colleges in mind, I would check their requirements.

Could your child take 2 years of Spanish and 2 years of ASL as an elective? Also, Montgomery College offers an excellent ASL program so it may be possible to take the courses there outside of school and maybe transfer them as college credits?

FWIW, I speak both and find both to be extremely useful so I think learning either or both is beneficial in terms of life skills. But definitely check out the college requirements.

[Anonymous]

This is discussed pretty frequently on the College & University forum. Mostly seems speculative, but try:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1099822.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1039655.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1010582.page

My kid dropped Spanish after 5A, which was a real struggle due to a learning disability that the teacher wouldn't accommodate. (That inspired us to put a 504 plan in place, but alas, too late for Spanish.) DC is now taking ASL and enjoys it a lot. If that puts certain colleges out of reach, so be it. It wasn't worth DC being completely miserable.

[Anonymous]

What school offers 4 years of ASL? WJ just cut its ASL program from an anticipated 3 years back to 2.