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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts.  In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade.  Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected.  Is there something I'm missing?[/quote]

I posted above, I agree the amount of alarm is surprising, but I think it is amplified on these boards.  I've had two DCs pass through sixth grade, both took IA/IB language (only option at our school) and as far as I know all their friends did, too.  So IRL there doesn't seem to be as much worry.  I also remember beginning a first year language in 7th grade.  The one thing that may have been different was how it appeared on the HS transcript (which is what all the discussion is really about, not many people are saying these classes are just too hard for young students).  I really don't recall how that worked.  But it may have been, the same as MCPS.  Our school was a jr. high with a 9th grade.  Those students were certainly receiving HS credit and they were sitting in the same language classrooms, so I don't see how the 7th and 8th graders could have been denied credit.

But this is really the same issue MCPS has to contend with.  If languages were taken out of MS, parents would be furious because, certainly some MS students can handle the material.  If there are languages in MS, they need to connect with the HS sequence somehow--in terms of meeting prerequisite for later classes and graduation requirements.  How do you deny credit if they are learning the same material and shouldn't need to repeat it?  If there's a system where MS students receive some benefit without a grade on the transcript how is that fair to students who start later?

[b]But, really, if the MS student gets a B on their transcript, the issue probably isn't that they lacked maturity.  More likely it's the parent that needed those extra years to come to terms with the fact that most HS transcripts will include Bs.[/b][/quote]

There is no reason for anyone to get Bs on the HS transcripts in a regular MCPS HS program, with a manageable amount of effort.  It is another matter if you are in a magnet program, which is exponentially harder. 
 [/quote]

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