Basis changes language curriculum; less Latin, no world language until 8th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

How would you have any clue what BASIS DC students score on AP French, Spanish, or Mandarin exams? Stop making stuff up.

Longtime BASIS family who has a good feel for how my kids' cohorts have done on AP language exams in the last couple of years.

PP is not making stuff up. I wish s/he were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^BASIS DC parent here -- willing to concede, without any hesitation, that many if not most adjacent suburban schools have a stronger language curriculum and selection. Moreover, if language fluency is your priority (including in a native tongue), I suggest that BASIS DC will not meet your family's needs.

With that, can we end this tedious chain?...

This sort of tedious discussion will end once and for all if and when BASIS enters the 21st century as a franchise shooting for the stars in college admissions. One size just doesn't fit all where STEM oriented academic excellence is concerned. BASIS DC didn't meet our family's needs for STEM. Feel free to guess which public school has (hint: for Fairfax and Arlington students).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

OK, if I want my kid to be fluent in Vietnamese, I won't send him to Basis.

Don't send him to BASIS for Spanish either. Spanish at BASIS pretty much sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

Your statement is categorically false, Troll.

Stop spreading false information.

Go post in the Virginia public school thread. No one here cares what you think.

I don't think I'm the poster you're responding to. What's true is that BASIS compels students/families who reject instruction in a 3rd language to take beginning classes in language they already speak. Some families put up with this so the kids get an easy A in 7th and 8th grade before leaving for Walls or another school with stronger language offerings. Not the end of the world but silly.

Why not go boost for BASIS and call PPs names on a VA thread. Hey, you might find recruits there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^BASIS DC parent here -- willing to concede, without any hesitation, that many if not most adjacent suburban schools have a stronger language curriculum and selection. Moreover, if language fluency is your priority (including in a native tongue), I suggest that BASIS DC will not meet your family's needs.

With that, can we end this tedious chain?...

This sort of tedious discussion will end once and for all if and when BASIS enters the 21st century as a franchise shooting for the stars in college admissions. One size just doesn't fit all where STEM oriented academic excellence is concerned. BASIS DC didn't meet our family's needs for STEM. Feel free to guess which public school has (hint: for Fairfax and Arlington students).

Expecting BASIS to offer what a well-funded, suburban public school provides at a school most certainly with a larger student body and superior facilities is a bit much.

In any case, its college admissions are just fine. Eg., the latest update already shows Harvard and Yale admissions for the current senior class.

Anyway, you’ve posted many times on BASIS threads despite no longer having a kid there (or even at a DC school). I wish your kid luck in mastering multiple foreign languages, excelling in STEM, and acing college admissions. And I wish you luck in treating your OCD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

How would you have any clue what BASIS DC students score on AP French, Spanish, or Mandarin exams? Stop making stuff up.

Longtime BASIS family who has a good feel for how my kids' cohorts have done on AP language exams in the last couple of years.

PP is not making stuff up. I wish s/he were.

Longtime Basis family here too.

Unless you work for Basis or the College Board, I don't think you know either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^BASIS DC parent here -- willing to concede, without any hesitation, that many if not most adjacent suburban schools have a stronger language curriculum and selection. Moreover, if language fluency is your priority (including in a native tongue), I suggest that BASIS DC will not meet your family's needs.

With that, can we end this tedious chain?...

This sort of tedious discussion will end once and for all if and when BASIS enters the 21st century as a franchise shooting for the stars in college admissions. One size just doesn't fit all where STEM oriented academic excellence is concerned. BASIS DC didn't meet our family's needs for STEM. Feel free to guess which public school has (hint: for Fairfax and Arlington students).

Expecting BASIS to offer what a well-funded, suburban public school provides at a school most certainly with a larger student body and superior facilities is a bit much.

In any case, its college admissions are just fine. Eg., the latest update already shows Harvard and Yale admissions for the current senior class.

Anyway, you’ve posted many times on BASIS threads despite no longer having a kid there (or even at a DC school). I wish your kid luck in mastering multiple foreign languages, excelling in STEM, and acing college admissions. And I wish you luck in treating your OCD.

. Well, I have a HS kid at BASIS and I’m not thrilled with the college admissions prospects for his cohort as a whole. A few kids are snatched up by Ivies, MIT and other blue chip schools while the rest just do OK after 7 or 8 years without enough fun at school. More flexibility in the curriculum wouldn’t hurt BASIS and would inspire more kids. We’re fed up w/the level of control admins exert (only a little less in HS than MS). The previous head was more to our liking than this guy…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

How would you have any clue what BASIS DC students score on AP French, Spanish, or Mandarin exams? Stop making stuff up.

Longtime BASIS family who has a good feel for how my kids' cohorts have done on AP language exams in the last couple of years.

PP is not making stuff up. I wish s/he were.

Longtime Basis family here too.

Unless you work for Basis or the College Board, I don't think you know either.

Give me a break. Graduating class of 50 kids, 8 years together, we’re one of the few families with kids who took AP language in 9th and 10th grades and found the tests easy. We know too plenty.