Foreign language
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Anonymous
| Can anyone share knowledge about foreign language requirement for popular universities in VA/MD, please? My kid has zero interest in learning any foreign language and will only be taking it in HS to meet the college requirement. He currently does not know what he wants to major in college but he is strong in Math and Science and I feel he may choose a STEM field eventually. I am confused by what I am seeing on university websites. Does he need to take the AP exam for exemption? Is 2 years of HS foreign language not enough? Does engineering require 3 years of HS foreign language? Does any top university in VA/MD reject HS ASL? |
Anonymous
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Why would ASL be rejected? It is a world language.
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Anonymous
| 3 years minimum but all the good schools really want 4. |
Anonymous
It’s technically not a world language. It’s American Sign Language. Other countries have their own versions of sign language with different signs, etc. |
Anonymous
UVA disagrees. It doesn't satisfy their foreign language graduation requirement, so it would be strange if it satisfied the admissions requirement https://college.as.virginia.edu/fl-faq |
Anonymous
| Most universities want to see 4 years of the same foreign language. Some schools such as W&M will exempt students from taking a foreign language in college if they take 4 years of the same language in high school. |
Anonymous
| 4 years? So, one elective spot in HS gone? If a kid wants to continue with a music instrument in HS, then they have no elective spots remaining to pick anything else? |
Anonymous
| Texas universities require only 2 years of foreign language.. |
Anonymous
Pretty much, at least for 9th and 10th grades. This is why a lot of kids take HPE or Personal Finance over the summer, to free up a slot. If kids start foreign language in MS, it opens up additional slots as well. |
Anonymous
This is why many kids start in MS. This year is the first year that MS will allow non-Immersion kids to take Spanish or French in 7th grade as a HS class, in past years you could only have 1 year of a foreign language in MS unless you were in Language Immersion. This is also why some parents aim for PE in the summer or the personal finance class in the summer, to open up additional elective spots. DS is in LI and we are hoping he continues with his language so he can knock out 2 years of his 4 years of Foreign Language in MS, opening spaces in HS for electives. |
Anonymous
This must be school dependent. At DD's MS, they only offer foreign language for HS credit, and it has been that way since at least 2022. |
Anonymous
| I'd worry more about what FL he'll have to take in college, and whether he'll be ready for it. |
Anonymous
Prior to this year, kids could take a foreign language for 1 high school credit. So Spanish 1 or French 1. As of next year, all students can take Spanish or French 1 and 2 in MS. The presentation I watched for Carson said it was only Spanish and French that were available for both 7th and 8th grade, Chinese and Japanese would be under the A/B system, where only 1 HS credit is available. |
Anonymous
| Kids with dyslexia often opt to take ASL. |
Anonymous
This is not true. My children took Spanish 1 in 7th grade, Spanish 2 in 8th grade, Spanish 3 in 9th grade, and so on, through AP. Franklin MS has offered Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 (NOT "part 1" and "part 2") for a number of years. |