<p>Hmm. If she has to take an entire class–and she doesn’t want to take it–just to be on the “ASB Council” I have to wonder whether she should be participating in that. I’m sure there are many other things she could take which she’d actually enjoy.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter took 6 years of Spanish (grades 7-12) and 1 year of German (8th) . My son is taking German 3 now in 10th grade but took one year of Latin also last year. He likes German but hated Latin. My youngest daughter is in Spanish 1 (7th grade). </p>
<p>I think Spanish is the easiest to learn and the most useful. I would encourage her to take the FL all 4 years of high school. </p>
<p>She should take what she wants to take, and I don’t think any school will care which one it is. That said, My D takes Latin and is enjoying it. It’s good for those who like history and literature, you get into interesting reading a lot faster with Latin, than with the modern languages, Another nice thing is that since there are no heritage speakers, so it’s a much more level playing field in terms of the SAT II.</p>
<p>She will have other chances in her life to learn other languages–either in college or beyond, so I wouldn’t stress to much about picking what she might “need” in the future. </p>
<p>As I said before, I think Spanish is the best option if she is considering anything in the medical field with patient contact. However, unlike what ucbalumnus mentioned for math, I’d be very surprised if any graduate biology program cared about foreign languages. But really, if she has a significant preference for the Asian languages, I wouldn’t worry too much about what might be more or less useful to her. If she takes Spanish but likes Japan and decides she wants to work with scientists or doctors in Japan, it won’t help her personally that in general Spanish is more useful. But if her interest in Asian languages is simply that she thinks they will be helpful for a career in biology, I think that’s really not true. English is so widely used that nearly all scientists speak English. In the unlikely event of needing a translation of something, there are plenty of Asian native speakers who could do it. German or French would probably be better choices from that point of view.</p>
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<p>It really, really won’t. Or, at least, not as much as you think it will. It won’t be nearly as helpful as speaking a foreign language that is common to the area she would like to end up living/working in. I wish I had started Spanish in high school like my parents wanted me to, because it would have made my life a much easier. I’d recommend that she take a language that she wants to learn and will be practical for wherever she would like to live or work. I’d discourage her from taking Latin unless she really, really wants to.</p>
<p>Both my kids took Latin in middle school, then Spanish.
Both were STEM majors.
Consider availabilty of solid teaching through the third and optimally the 4th yr.
If she thinks she might be interested in biology research, I might suggest German, but overall, I would suggest French or Spanish to fulfill language requirement and to give her enough time to include orchestra in her schedule.
I think the arts are as important as checking off biology, chemistry & physics.</p>
<p>Wait, I’m confused. I thought that this was a high school not yet built. How can your D be a member of ASB for a high school that doesn’t exist while she’s still in 8th grade? Or is the class required for anyone who’s on ASB in any of the feeder middle schools? I’ve never heard of anything like this.</p>
<p>@sseamom They’ve set up the ASB and held elections before the school is built to organize things for next year. I know it’s strange; she’s been nominated a member of the school board already, and attends monthly meetings. </p>
<p>And it meets every day during the school year? Hmm. I am happy for her to have been chosen, but it does get in the way of her doing other things. </p>
<p>I’m assuming “ASB” is a student government organization? I have to say, in general I don’t think too much of those organizations as the elections are generally a popularity contest and once elected, they seem to spend their time doing things like putting up posters for “wear purple to school for spirit day”. Or, as my kids say “they don’t do anything”. Nothing wrong with spirit days but it’s not something I’d want to sacrifice an academic period for. I follow the day to day doings of our middle school more closely and there have been quite a few changes made over the years and I don’t believe the middle school student government has been consulted or involved in any way with them, even with issues that are primarily about student life. I have not seen any student government representatives at various meetings held by the school administration over the years. </p>
<p>That said, it seems to me in a brand new school, a student government might actually do something. </p>
<p>ASB is certainly a popularity contest at my D’s school. But leadership class is entirely unrelated, and for upper class students. I gather there is only the one feeder middle school for this new high school, otherwise how could you possibly elect ASB for the following year without shutting out some of the students? In any case, D’s school is only 6 or 7 years old and grew a grade a year from 6th up. It’s been exciting to see what new opportunities arise each year and how invested the kids are in a school they are helping to grow. </p>
<p>Spanish is the one foreign language that the school won’t drop, despite budget problems or teacher resignations. It’s something to think about. Spanish is also relatively easy because the spelling follows recognizable rules (unlike English). However, it may become difficult at the higher levels because a lot of students drop foreign language after level 2 or 3, leaving you with a class in which the majority of the students may be heritage speakers – a formidable challenge for a student who is not one of them.</p>
<p>That is very dependent on the area in which you live. There are few, if any, heritage speakers of ANY foreign language in my school district. In a more diverse area, could be an issue.</p>
<p>Our school is 15% non-English proficient and there were only a few heritage speakers in my daughter’s AP Spanish class. High school classes tend not to be graded on a curve, or if they are, they would be curved up. I’ve not seen a high school teacher curve down. So, how well the other students are doing is probably irrelevant and in fact will help, since the kid can actually learn well from other students instead of hearing 3rd year students saying Hhhhhhola.</p>
<p>@sseamom Actually, there are four feeder middle schools. All of the middle schools in our district are feeding into next year’s high school, which is why the campaign was so hard for her. She campaigned everywhere after school. Thankfully, our community is pretty tight-knit, and my daughter has friends and acquaintances at all the schools due to past social events, etc… </p>
<p>On the bright side, her position on the district school board at least keeps her posted on new developments, budgets, and gives her a chance to voice her opinion in an effective environment. (She casts preferential votes on the board, and she is allowed to comment during their discussion.) I just don’t like how she has to stay late at times, listening to arguments from teachers, parents, students, adult boardmembers… The last one went until about 11 PM, and she was exhausted. </p>
<p>I’d tell her to take the language she’s truly most interested in, not the one that’s “easiest” or most “practical for the real world.”</p>
<p>If you’re worried about the difficulty of Chinese and Japanese, I’d say it’s overrated, especially if you care.</p>
<p>After some more talk, my daughter and my wife compromised on Latin, as I predicted. She’s so set against taking Spanish or French, though my wife and I tried to talk her into it. She thinks it’ll be boring and too easy, and that’s what she dislikes. She did her research on high school Latin courses and I think she’s genuinely interested. As for the 8-period day issue, we gave her a deal. If she can get at least a top-10 ranking in her next (and last for this year) state academic competitions, we’ll allow her to do an 8-period day. </p>
<p>The reason my wife and I are so unsure about her having such a long day is because we’re concerned about her ability to perform consistently well. She’s sporadic (she either loses completely, or wins first place), and we need her to show us that she can stabilize her work habits for high school. </p>
<p>All in all, thank you everyone for helping us with this. </p>
<p>Your post floored me.</p>
<p>“If she can get at least a top-10 ranking in her next (and last for this year) state academic competitions, we’ll allow her to do an 8-period day.”</p>
<p>I would “allow” her to do it if she feels she wants to and can handle it. It’s not <em>that</em> huge a commitment nor an unmanageably long day. My 8th grader’s day runs 8-5:30 several times per week and 8-4 on the “off” days. And I certainly wouldn’t tie it to having to be top 10 in the state at anything. Are you really saying she has to earn the right to play in her school orchestra by scoring top 10 in the state in some state academic competition? The message being, she is not good enough if she doesn’t score in the top 10 in the state, and therefore she must sacrifice something she wants to do in order to work harder, study more? </p>
<p>“loses completely”–Loses what completely? Do you mean she is getting F’s in her classes?</p>
<p>Both my kids found Spanish to be quite easy. I don’t see that as a problem–if she’s otherwise busy, an easier class gives her more time to focus on things that interest her more. One of my kids solved the problem by skipping over a year of Spanish. Then it was not too easy. </p>
<p>Count me as floored too. My 9th grader is busy with something extra, every day. She gets good grades. But I would not tie her participation in any EC to “winning”, because winning, at anything, is tied to so many external things, from health to getting enough sleep to simple nerves, whatever. OP, this is the age when kids want to try new things and see what they’re made of. Why not let your D see what she can do? I’d worry more about her performance in CLASS not competitions! Your post also makes me wonder who is calling the shots-your daughter, or her parents? When does SHE get to choose?</p>