<p>My sophomore high school son really struggles with some aspects of language acquisition. He was tested last year and ended up one point above the cutoff for having a true learning disability in this area. However, his quantitative/spatial skills were so high above normal that the testing people said we could argue for enough disability to get his exempted from the language requirement at his high school. </p>
<p>Because it seemed like it was going to be a big battle, jointly we decided to try to stick it out. So with about $500 a month in tutoring (!) he is barely making a B-. Without Spanish his GPA is about a 3.7. In retrospect, maybe we should have launched the battle for an exemption ....</p>
<p>So, after this year he will have two years of HS foreign language (making it through Spanish 3 since he had it in 7th and 8th grade too). He wants to quit today (if he could) and I'm ready to throw in the towel and stop paying for tutoring in a class that makes him feel like a failure. </p>
<p>My concern though is that many colleges we have looked at require at least a year of foreign language at the college level. Taking an engineering track is a possibility, but he is not really an engineer at heart (of course things can change, I know). He may actually be a math kid at heart so schools with a B.S. option with no language in math are possibilities. Much to my surprise some though, B.S. degrees still require language (just less than a B.A.). </p>
<p>The collective wisdom of CC is so high. I was wondering if all of you had suggestions of schools to look at other than the obvious large-state-schools-with-engineering-majors? We are starting early because we are geographically remote, so we plan college visits a long way in advance to coordinate schedules and the travel time.</p>
<p>University of Rochester has no language requirement. It requires students to take a writing course, and to select a major (which can be at the end of sophomore year). Rochester divides all its courses into 3 areas: Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences (including math). A major is one of these areas, and the student must take 3 related courses ("clusters") in the other 2. </p>
<p>So let's say that your son is a math major. He'd need to take a "cluster" in the Humanities, but that cluster doesn't need to include a language. Some clusters could be Art History, Christianity, Cinema & Cultural Studies, Comparative Film Traditions, Creative Writing, Film History, Music Theory, and so on. Same in Social Sciences. </p>
<p>And his grades, without the Spanish, would seem to make him competitive for admissions.</p>
<p>My son is at University of the Pacific. Some majors do not have a language requirement.
He is LD and also struggled through Spanish. Like you we invested heavily in a tutor and I think ended up with a B. He wanted to quit after the two years but was pursued to do the 3rd year by the tutor providing he got a certain teacher. We lobbied hard for a certain teacher with the option for my son to drop the course if he didn't get this teacher. The style of the this teacher made the learning easier.
We found a teacher who mixed up the way of delivering the material was a better match then the one who taught the same way day after day.
You might also set up a meeting with the teacher and see if there is a pattern in what mistakes he is making and the teacher might be willing to make some accommodations. For example my son failed every single vocab test his 2nd yr of Spanish. Unfortunately all of this teachers test were the same type which didn't work for my son. After meeting with my son the teacher exempted him for vocab tests and found an alternative way of testing him.</p>
<p>Also, it is very smart to start visiting colleges by the spring of sophomore year! Good idea! The kids lives get busier and busier as time passes.</p>
<p>It seems like a lot of techier schools don't require languages - Carnegie Mellon requires nothing at least in the engineering, business, computer science and Humanities and Social Science schools though there may be specific majors (such as linguistics) that have language requirements.</p>
<p>There are lots of majors at large (and small) State U's. that don't require a foreign language.<br>
Both of my S's ( college jr and h.s senior) have/will have a major that requires no foreign language as do many other kids we know. S2 has a terrible time with foreign language (his worst h.s grades) and a major with no language requirement was a must for him. Luckily it turned out that what he is interested in doing does not require FL.</p>
<p>Some schools will allow students to substitute** either ** a semester abroad **or **a cluster of courses in another culture for the language requirement. I believe Lafayette and Union are among the schools that have such policies. This could be a "way around" the issue for students who simply are challenged by -- or have no interest in -- foreign language study.</p>
<p>Lafayette's policy for the B.A. students:
[quote]
and a Foreign Culture Requirement, which may be satisfied in one of the following ways: (1) demonstration of proficiency in a foreign language through the intermediate level, (2) an approved course of study abroad, or (3) completion of a cluster of three related courses dealing with another culture. The established clusters are: Africa/Middle East; Asia; Central and Western Europe; France; Germany; Latin America; and Russia.
<p>Grinnell has no language requirement-but its a SLAC with no engineering program. He'd need to do a 3+2 if he wanted an undergrad engineering degree.</p>
<p>As Packmom says, we visited some state schools that did not require FL for certain majors. You can probably pick a college, pick a major, and visit their latest catalog for requirements in that major, as well as core requirements. Be careful, because when my older son was applying, one private school added onto their FL requirements the year my son would enter as a freshman. That school was scratched from our list.</p>
<p>Chedva give good good advice. We found this to be true at several LACs:</p>
<p>
[quote]
So let's say that your son is a math major. He'd need to take a "cluster" in the Humanities, but that cluster doesn't need to include a language. Some clusters could be Art History, Christianity, Cinema & Cultural Studies, Comparative Film Traditions, Creative Writing, Film History, Music Theory, and so on. Same in Social Sciences.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would recommend looking closely at a few schools online and taking a close look in their catalog at requirements (for the major, and then core requirements that all students must fulfill). If you are unsure or wish to confirm, you can call always contact admissions and explain that you are interested in finding out about the core requirements, and if a FL is required, or whether a student has flexibility to select other classes within the humanities cluster.</p>
<p>Delicate, there are two issues here: What you need to get in and what you need to graduate after you matriculate.</p>
<p>For admissions, most colleges *recommend *3 years of the same foreign language. This is not carved in stone and is quite variable by college. If you choose not to take a language, a lot depends on what you do instead. An explanation from your guidance counselor might do the trick. But be forewarned, the competition, especially at highly selective colleges will be language adept.</p>
<p>Then the second consideration is after you matriculate. Some colleges have specific language proficiency requirements; some do not. Those that do will require you to test in or out of continued language study. They often use the SAT or AP scores as determining factors or they administer their own test. </p>
<p>Other colleges have NO language requirement (or no requirements at all for anything). </p>
<p>My son, who is language-challenged, this was a priority in his shortlist. The idea of taking college level language was to him tortuous. His situation was somewhat different than your son's in that he is fully fluent in the language of the host country where we live, but that language is not taught at most colleges. He therefore, like your son, struggled through Spanish with similar results.</p>
<p>Some schools that have no language requirements are Williams, Amherst, Brown and (I think) Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Just be aware that if you plan to do graduate work (not professional - law, medicine, engineering, etc.), you will almost always be required to have as few as one and as many as three additional languages. These are not measured by coursework, but by translation exams.</p>
<p>My son attends Lafayette. The "foreign culture" requirement can be met in several ways, not all of which require taking a language. For instance, a student can take a cluster of 3 courses concerning the same part of the world (eg: Asian Art, Politics of Asia, Chinese History). I think there may be other colleges with a similar program.</p>
<p>Like above poster, my son attended Elon (class of '04) and the foreign culture requirement at that time at least could be met in various ways. He took several classes in Latin America culture and literature. Then he enjoyed those so much he took a few classes in eastern culture and religion.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>most colleges recommend 3 years of the same foreign language>></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>The OP's child completed Spanish 3. We had the same issue in our household with both kids. They took MS Spanish and actually completed Spanish 4. Both stopped taking Spanish after 10th grade (after completing Spanish 4). In both cases, the colleges considered the level of PROFICIENCY...Level 4...as being completed, even though both kids took only two years at the HS level. This was for admittance. </p>
<p>My kids were very careful to either choose a major (engineering) or a school (BU) which did not require any additional foreign language courses in college.</p>
<p>My son (Elon '07) got out as the last class without a language requirement.
My suggestion is to be sure the course bulletin (at any school in consideration) reflects the expectations of your child's entry year.</p>