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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]+1 The Common Data Set. A great resource. The point is to have the coursework to be successful in the desired college major. If a major is going to require extensive foreign language, it was available to the student in HS, and they didn't take it. Why not? A STEM or engineering major, isn't going to need much/any FL and it's ok if their HS record reflects that.[/quote]

For those of you that have kids just finishing college or finished in the last few years.. What's the practical value of a FL education?  How has that made a difference in their work lives or given them a leg up in getting a job?  [/quote]

Haven't YOU lived in the world? Of course it is an advantage to speak more than one language.

It opens places for travel and work. For example, when you visit other countries, if you want to leave major cities, you often need to speak the native language (with a few exceptions, such as Scandinavia). It exposes you to new foods and culture/art/literature. It helps you understand linguistic nuance, and other perspectives.

What a sad, odd question.[/quote]

Spanish 1-4 in hs isn’t going to get a kid anywhere close to that level of fluency. A minor in Spanish in college (That’s shoved down my kid’s throat constantly) won’t either. [/quote]

You're so right. The previous poster is delusional about gaining fluency with merely high school Spanish. Spanish was the most common Foreign Language taken at my high school, so basically 90% of all students were on this track. I know of 1 PERSON who started from scratch in high school with no Spanish skills or heritage, and went on to speaking it at a high level. She didn't just stop taking that language, she actually majored in it and also had to go abroad for at least 1 semester. That's nearly 8+ years of complete dedication to the language to be able to gain fluency. Now she works at a job that requires her to use it every day so it continues to be easy for her to maintain her skills. Most kids take it because they have to in high school, and then don't use it daily or have any reason to continue taking it in college, these kids cannot speak Spanish. That's just absurd to imply that high school FL can create bilinguals. Kids whose parents have resources to send them to other countries in the summers, hire tutors or nannies, have a much higher chance of gaining mastery. To suggest that any random kid taking high school classes can just suddenly be able to speak that language is absurd. It takes a lot of outside work and commitment that goes far beyond what happens in the classrooms.[/quote]

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