Anonymous wrote:NP. Whatever the case, the point is a good one. Don't cancel AP language courses because few high school students sign up. Build and sustain interest from the middle school level. Encourage students to study languages independently, giving them HS credit for passing any AP language exam. DCPS and DCPCS could do all that but don't bother. Ed stakeholders should challenge in our world-class city.

The point seemed to be why did they cancel some small classes and not others. That was untrue. A school like Walls, Banneker, etc. cannot sustain a full time German teacher without a substantial number of kids signing up for the course. This isn’t a private school, there is only so much money to hire and space in schools.

NP. Whatever the case, the point is a good one. Don't cancel AP language courses because few high school students sign up. Build and sustain interest from the middle school level. Encourage students to study languages independently, giving them HS credit for passing any AP language exam. DCPS and DCPCS could do all that but don't bother. Ed stakeholders should challenge in our world-class city.

I will also reiterate you must be thinking of another class because what you are saying just is not true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Walls doesn’t have German. Not enough kids took it and the HSA was paying for a teacher for like ten kids to take the class. It wasn’t worth it.

What a shame. The most advanced math classes at Walls (multivariate calculus) don't have more than ten kids either, but don't get cancelled.

It wouldn't kill DC public schools to start prioritizing language instruction over less useful outlays, particularly Taj Mahal renovations of buildings that, years later, sit half empty.

Um the Multivariate Calculus class is over enrolled each year (over 25 kids). Physics C has 27 or 28 kids this year. AP Stats and AP Calc all have class sizes well above ten. Please stop speaking on things you clearly know nothing about.

How long have you been associated with Walls? We've had at least one kid there for the last 7 years. The reality is that some years Walls doesn't even offer Multivariate Calc. And some years the class has a dozen kids.

I’ve been associated with Walls for longer than 7 years. The course has been offered for the past three years. The first year back after virtual was the first year the course was in the DCPS course catalog. Before that it wasn’t a course in the system. You must be thinking of another course because as I said it has at least 25 kids each year. Please trust me I have more knowledge around this course than you. Have any of your kids taken it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Walls doesn’t have German. Not enough kids took it and the HSA was paying for a teacher for like ten kids to take the class. It wasn’t worth it.

What a shame. The most advanced math classes at Walls (multivariate calculus) don't have more than ten kids either, but don't get cancelled.

It wouldn't kill DC public schools to start prioritizing language instruction over less useful outlays, particularly Taj Mahal renovations of buildings that, years later, sit half empty.

Um the Multivariate Calculus class is over enrolled each year (over 25 kids). Physics C has 27 or 28 kids this year. AP Stats and AP Calc all have class sizes well above ten. Please stop speaking on things you clearly know nothing about.

How long have you been associated with Walls? We've had at least one kid there for the last 7 years. The reality is that some years Walls doesn't even offer Multivariate Calc. And some years the class has a dozen kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Walls doesn’t have German. Not enough kids took it and the HSA was paying for a teacher for like ten kids to take the class. It wasn’t worth it.

What a shame. The most advanced math classes at Walls (multivariate calculus) don't have more than ten kids either, but don't get cancelled.

It wouldn't kill DC public schools to start prioritizing language instruction over less useful outlays, particularly Taj Mahal renovations of buildings that, years later, sit half empty.

Um the Multivariate Calculus class is over enrolled each year (over 25 kids). Physics C has 27 or 28 kids this year. AP Stats and AP Calc all have class sizes well above ten. Please stop speaking on things you clearly know nothing about.

Due on November 1!
Please consider applying to the CBYX program to spend a high school exchange year in Germany. It's a life changing experience, and a sure fire way for (high school) and other students to learn German: https://usagermanyscholarship.org/apply/

While we're at it, there are other good ways to learn languages, especially the rarer ones on that list that someone posted: look for YES, FLEX, NISL-Y exchange programs and gap years. Google it or look out for programs like AFS, which administers these State Department supported scholarships:
https://www.afsusa.org/study-abroad/#afs-nav-community

Honestly, it’s hopeless. DC public schools will never be good enough to teach German etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Walls doesn’t have German. Not enough kids took it and the HSA was paying for a teacher for like ten kids to take the class. It wasn’t worth it.

What a shame. The most advanced math classes at Walls (multivariate calculus) don't have more than ten kids either, but don't get cancelled.

It wouldn't kill DC public schools to start prioritizing language instruction over less useful outlays, particularly Taj Mahal renovations of buildings that, years later, sit half empty.

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Sie haben es losgeworden.

Anonymous wrote:Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

Walls doesn’t have German. Not enough kids took it and the HSA was paying for a teacher for like ten kids to take the class. It wasn’t worth it.

Anonymous wrote:This. The problem as much a paternalistic mindset as an issue of scale.

Sure, you can send your kid to German classes outside school, but realize their DC public middle school is v. likely to make them take a different language coterminously and, arguably, needlessly. In the US context, this tends to mean that the kid ends up weak in 2 languages as a teen. The system leaves a lot to be desired. As has been pointed out, things tend to be different in the burbs.

Go to the German School in Potomac. They have classes Wednesdays and Saturday’s.

As for public options, School Without Walls has German. I don’t know the quality of the instruction.

The best foreign language instruction is probably the spanish track at DCI.

This. The problem as much a paternalistic mindset as an issue of scale.

Choice and flexibility are different things. Policy decisions could be made in DC to permit qualified students to test out of academic requirements, particularly for major world languages not being taught, e.g. German. The point is that these decisions aren’t being made in a world class city supporting an unsophisticated public school system.