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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There’s nothing wrong with wanting one’s kids to become masters in their native language.  But the idea that a school must support such learning in the name of promoting intellectual curiosity is not an argument that I follow.  I guess learning some Latin along the way would stunt your child’s intellectual development??

Anyway, I think we can all agree that Basis was not the right choice for your child.  Congrats on having another wonderful option.[/quote]

I agree with this. If I have a talented budding violinist, should I expect a school to be instructing them? Should I expect they get exempted from music class because my kids studies violin? No. [/quote]

What, are you dense?  The parents discussed above asked for their children to be left alone on language instruction because they were so far ahead of the pack.  That approach is standard in Metro area suburban schools, where ed leaders and admins actually care about promoting and supporting bilingualism in an increasingly globalized world.  In MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax, kids can test out of mandatory language instruction in public school (though it's not easy to do that). Christ, what an unsophisticated school system this really is.  I'm going to hope that the new HOS actually gets it.    [/quote]

No, the parents asked for the school to "support" the kid in the second language to enable the kid to reach fluency as a teen. They also wanted their 7th grader to then take what - late high school language classes? I can see why that's a terrible idea on a number of levels. The school's curriculum is very clearly Latin for the first 2 years -[b] I see zero problems with this approach. [/b]

"[i]When I asked at BASIS admins if the program would support my kid's language learning--s/he speaks a very difficult major world language--perhaps through DL, I was told, absolutely not. The only language the the child could, and must, study before 7th grade is Latin. Come 7th grade, the choice would be to study the language the child speaks at either the beginning level, or begin studying a different language and stick with it for the next six years. When I pointed out that this rigid approach would make it next to impossible for the child to reach our goal of achieving native level fluency/literacy in the language the kid already speaks as a teen[/i]," [/quote]

Yes, because you don't speak Arabic, Chinese or Russian and, hence, have no idea how difficult it is for adults to become fluent in these tough languages.  Experts say that the work to gain fluency is best done while young, consistently and for many years. Dabbling in languages MS and HS languages doesn't pay off, not in the elite college admissions game.  When I was a kid growing up in Cal, bilingual public school students were seldom permitted to build on language skills gained at home in school settings.  Fortunately, the state has done a 180 degree turn on the issue in the last 20 years, a very impressive turnaround.  BASIS isn't used to dealing with many bilingual immigrant families who don't speak Spanish.  Not the Arizona experience.  They go with blunt instruments on language instruction for lack of understanding and resources.  BASIS DC can't even afford a school library.[/quote]
Why on earth would you lottery into a school that teaches only Latin until 7th? There are lots of bilingual schools - why didn't you apply to them? Your argument becomes more inane with every post. You clearly have a particular language you want your child's school to teach and you applied to and attended one that doesn't teach it -- or doesn't teach it the way you want them to.

In the end, you found you needed to pay tuition to get what you wanted. The error here was yours, not the schools.[/quote]

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