Reply to Drop foreign language after 10th grade?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Drop foreign language after 10th grade?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid is dreading taking Spanish 5 next year as a junior; however it's required for the IB diploma so she's stuck. Luckily, she doesn't have to take it her senior year. I do think these language requirements are ridiculous once they've hit level 4.  If it weren't for the IB requirement, she would drop it and opt for an elective that she's much more interested in. [/quote]

Fun experiment. Talk to a 100 kids who took AP (any language) two years after they did. Count how many of them can hold a basic conversation. Maybe a couple will. The rest.. I see absolutely no reason to force language on everyone (saying this as someone who is fluent in 4 languages). [/quote]

Do we apply this standard to advanced math or science? I’m confident that in two years my senior humanities kid taking AP calculus and physics E&M this year will not be able to speak fluently/cogently about calculus or physics, but they’re taking those classes now to demonstrate maximum rigor and willingness to challenge themselves outside their comfort zone. I’m not sure why we don’t think about FL the same way, and my understanding is that many colleges do think about it this way. They aren’t looking for fluency—they are looking for indications that students are pursuing a broad, challenging curriculum.

And FWIW, in 10th grade, the idea of taking calculus was terrifying to my kid; they really didn’t want to, but we discussed the fact that they schools they were interested in would expect it and that if they wanted to keep their admissions options open, they should probably take it. Turns out…it’s going well! Kid doesn’t love it but finds it comprehensible and knows that it’s a net positive for their application.

Advanced FL isn’t just for humanities kids just like calculus isn’t just for STEM kids. Obviously we don’t force kids to take either, but there’s no reason to think of AP French as less valuable/worthwhile than AP Calculus…especially since neither is super-practical for most kids![/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