Reply to Does foreign language choice in HS matter?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Does foreign language choice in HS matter?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Most HSs only give you 2-3 languages to choose from. And not all HSs guarantee all languages language through Year 4/ AP.  My DD’s HS had 3 years of Korean and 2 of ASL as an FCPS Academy site.  Then 4 years of French, Spanish and Latin.

My DD insists Latin through AP was a great choice for her. She got perfect scores on the ACT verbal sections and credits Latin with helping her better understand English. She is now majoring in a non-Romance critical language (also majoring in IR) and says that the Latin background has been enormously helpful in understanding and learning grammar.

And yes, as an American citizenfrom a college with a well respected IR program, going for fluency in a critical language plus IR?  She’s very employable, especially in the government (State, DOD and national security are all recruiting, hard).

So, Latin was a good call given her goals. But, I doubt her college admissions outcomes would have been any different if she had gotten the same grades and gone through AP in French or Spanish.

And yes, Mandrin, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Farsi— these are critical languages and it’s great to get a start in HS. But they are classified by the US government as “critical” because there are not enough American citizens with fluency to meet US military, national security, diplomatic and economic needs.  And there are not enough fluent  speakers precisely because so few HS teach these languages and starting a new language in college and going for a fluent OPI score is tough. I know because I’m watching a kid do it.  And it requires spending most summers in immersion environments and seeking a lot of opportunities outside of classes— like a language house, playing podcasts and watching movies in the language, etc.

Basically, we have a foreign language pipeline problem in the US. And HSs are by and large not teaching the languages that are needed— at least by the government. (Obviously in some areas of the country, Spanish is very helpful long term)

But for HS. You can can only go with what’s offered. Sure, Russian is cool and stands out and could open doors long term. But in FCPS, I believe only TJ plus one other HS offer it, so…. You can only do what you can do. No college will mark your kid down because they didn’t take a language not offered. 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics