<p>As I said in my post, my daughter has a auditory processing disorder. Learning Italian is a huge struggle for her-- I’m sure, given a choice she would skip it. But I think there’s value in struggle. I don’t understand the analogy that equates struggle in learning to a food allergy (which can be fatal.) “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”! ;)</p>
<p>Another point (that is interesting to me, maybe no one else) is that not all language programs are equal. By coincidence, D3, who is at Juilliard, is taking Italian I and II this year as an elective. The class is mostly opera singers. D4 is taking the same course, same textbook, down the street at Fordham Lincoln Center. In the fall semester, the Fordham class covered twice the amount of material as the Jyard class. Languages are easier for D3-- life is just not fair.</p>
<p>My son’s high school requires 3 years of foreign language. After struggling through the first 2, he got the 3rd year requirement waived which for him was welcome relief. We know that may count him out of certain colleges that require more and we do not care. He struggles to spell correctly in English (his spelling is to this day almost entirely phonetic and he’s 17 so thank God for spellcheck… if only English were a phonetic language). But he is extremely well spoken so it is not a lack of knowing how to use language correctly. </p>
<p>If one thinks about how foreign language is taught in schools though with all of the vocabulary to memorize, and the repetition of sentences like, “that man has a fine thick mustache”… for some of these students it is just never going to stick. But in the case of my son, plop him in the middle of any foreign speaking country and I bet he’d be one of the first to pick up the language organically (even if he’d never write it correctly) because he talks to people, likes people and is extremely curious about all kinds of things that others might take for granted. So I’ll take a BS for him without ever having a class in a foreign language and claim victory. </p>
<p>But I DO respect and envy anyone who is good with languages and absolutely see the value. My husband speaks 4 1/2 (1/2 means almost fluent and can read) languages and his mother spoke 6 1/2 and of course my son and I would LOVE to be in that bucket. Alas, I don’t speak any language other than English. My theatre daughter claims she is fluent in Spanish. I think she’s close and understands everything but would need a bit of practice but sure, if plopped down in the middle of a Spanish speaking country, I’d be glad she was there.</p>
<p>Glass, I’m not comparing language learning disability to food allergies–I’m comparing the attitude of people who think it’s all imaginary. (I have some dangerous food allergies myself and have seen the surreptitious eye-rolling from people who think I just “don’t like seafood.”) I think we all agree on the basic principle…</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP, I dispute that the difference between a BA and a BFA or a BS is language. Although I am not certain of the circumstance with a BS in particular, I’ve seen several curricula of BFA programs which do include a foreign language requirement. I think we can agree that the BFA and or a BS would have less gen ed requirements but each University and Department within dictates what that will be.</p>
<p>I do believe that certain students have learning difficulties that exacerbate their efforts to learn a language and for those students, I would like to think that they could demonstrate a disability and get an exception from that requirement. I think its a shame that they would have to seek a different college because of that and I wish that there would be some sort of uniform process for dealing with this issue.</p>
<p>Or a BS could be something else. Skidmore has a BS Theatre which is 60/60 Theatre/other stuff as compared to 30/90 for a BA and 90/30 for a BFA. My D is in an acting program this summer and had Skidmore students tell her it was more like 50/80 (or 80/50 … it wasn’t clear to me)</p>
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