Reply to 6th Grade: Take a language or no?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a former middle school language teacher, I would say yes!  Keep in mind that you know your child better than anyone -- some kids do require that extra year of maturity, but only you can know that.  That said, the vast majority of students are ready at that age, and every single student I ever had in 6th grade Spanish class thrived and adored that class.  Reading some of the earlier responses and I am so ashamed that in MoCo all of the parents are more worried about a B on a report card than their child being challenged and learning something new (and useful!)  Middle school language classes are FUN.  Really!  The curriculum, despite being a HS class, is not over their heads.  And if they go on and struggle in Spanish 2, they can always retake it -- thus replacing the first grade (if you're worried about those things.)  Please do consider the class![/quote]

The parents are not the problem.  The problem is that it is ridiculous that a grade in any class taken by a 6th grader shows up on their high school transcript.  [/quote]

Bad policy?  Yes.  Terrible.  No argument here.  But I can assure you that in many cases parents are still a problem.  God forbid we actually want to challenge our kids and make them learn to work in tough situations!  These are the same parents that come high school, demand that their kids grades be changed from a B to an A because "they need to get into the ivy league schools", when the entire reason their kids (who are FULLY CAPABLE OF AN A, mind you) got a B is because they slacked off and new mommy and daddy would clean up after them.  I can't tell you how many kids in my HS classes would sit down and proudly calculate the math to see how low of a grade they could get on tests/exams to maintain a certain grade.  And when they slacked off and missed by a point or two, came in demanding that they be given the grade that they want!  Sorry, but these kids are learning a sense of entitlement and lack of drive from mom and dad who always told them they deserve all As.  In order to get an A you must EARN IT.  Not just know the material.

But I digress...  The majority of these kids are fully capable of languages in Middle School.  And they are still in that stage where they can have SO much fun with a language class (they are not "too cool" yet to participate in silly skits and learn funny songs!)  And as I mentioned earlier, the grade can be replaced if the class is retaken, so please don't discourage the kid just because they may not get an A.[/quote]

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