<p>My S was beginning his second year of German in high school when the school announced that, because of recent budget cuts by the state (Texas), German and French foreign language classes would no longer be offered, though all four years of Spanish classes would continue. That caused a huge stir among the students and their parents, and in response to the angry protests the school district offered to provide at some point in the future a second year of German or French to students who had taken the first year, though the second year would probably be Pass/Fail. And no more advanced courses would be offered. The district also stated that the students would be able to take foreign language courses at the community college (25 miles from the school) for dual credit.</p>
<p>If a student in the described situation were interested in some colleges/universities that recommended three or four years of a foreign language, what would be the best way to proceed? Use up the summers to take extra courses in German, switch to Spanish (though too late for this, S's sophomore, year), switch to a new language at the community college, such as Latin, or just try to explain it in application essays?</p>
<p>I think any of those solutions is possible, whatever you do, use the “anything else you want to tell us” space to briefly explain that it wasn’t your son’s choice to discontinue German. I don’t think he needs to feel obliged to use his summers on German unless he loves the language, I suspect there are more useful things he could be doing then (jobs/internships for example.) </p>
<p>I’m not sure why they didn’t plan to have your son switch to Spanish now - that IMO would have been the most sensible thing for him to do. He’s taking no language at all now if I understand it correctly?</p>
<p>Sorry this has happened to your S and your school. Can your S switch into Spanish 1 this year? Seems like that would make more sense then continuing on in a language that the school won’t continue to support. If he makes the switch now, he can take 3 years of Spanish (which would fulfill many college requirements/recommendations). Your GC should be able to explain this circumstance to adcoms in the future.</p>
<p>Seems like this trend of cutting foreign languages will make it more likely that most students taking a foreign language will take Spanish, since that is probably the last foreign language to be cut.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if they have to cut a foreign language, they should cut the level 1 courses first, then the level 2 courses the next year, etc. so that students who have already started the language can get at least to the third level before it is completely cut.</p>
<p>For the student in the original post, going to community college may be the best choice if he is interested in continuing German. Note that college language courses are likely to move faster than high school language courses, so it may not take as many semesters there to reach the desired level as it would in high school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. The school district did not make the announcement until the second week of classes as they were apparently scrambling behind the scenes to make the foreign language classes available. The first week S just sat in the class with a coach present and did nothing. By the time it was determined that his German II class was cancelled, there were not any slots in the Spanish I during the period of his then open class. And since his schedule was full of AP and pre-AP classes that were not guaranteed entry, it did not appear possible to redo his entire schedule to take Spanish at another time.</p>
<p>His GC apparently likes him and we are hoping the GC will help provide the explanations and details, if necessary, of this predicament when S does apply to schools in a couple of years. It is just that S worries whether this would be enough.</p>
<p>They cut all the foreign language courses other than Spanish. And you are correct that the community college courses provide more credit. According to S’s school manual, one semester of FL at the CC counts for two semesters at the high school.</p>
<p>If a college has a language requirement of 2 years, and puts more weight on applications that have 3-4 years, you will not be able to explain it away simply because the district dropped languages other than Spanish. To be competitive he needs a minimum of 2 years and 3 is better. So look for ONLINE options, (check out Florida Virtual School–free to Florida residents but can be taken by anyone if you pay the tuition), or switch to Spanish asap, or take dual enrollment classes. One semester of college Spanish is usually equivalent to one year of high school classes.</p>
<p>Colleges that require language will not waive the requirement under these circumstances. They will know a resourceful student/family will find a way to get the language class requirements.</p>
<p>That’s really irresponsible of the school. One possibility, if he’s worried, is to take Spanish at the college in the summer - that would catch him up.</p>
<p>Agree with mathmom. Incredibly irresponsible. They created a mess, and didn’t provide any reasonable solution to clean it up. </p>
<p>D’s hs dropped German as well, but ensured that kids already in the sequence could finish. They did end up with some consolidated classes (two levels offered during the same class period) but that is something the Latin teacher did for years. </p>
<p>Is an on-line language course a possibility? We’re offering them statewide to address shortage of language classes, particularly at remote rural schools with tiny enrollments.</p>
<p>The same thing happened to my son. He took Latin 1 at his school freshman year. He signed up for Latin 2 the following year and then the school lost their Latin teacher. He took Latin 2 on Florida Virtual School but did not like it at all. He doesn’t feel like he really learned anything.</p>
<p>If there is a worry about how the foreign language will play out for college applications, the best route is to abandon German, jump onto an online program for Spanish, and make sure to catch up for Spanish II or III. </p>
<p>Clinging to German will be harder, unless there are VERY good reasons to do so (family, heritage, or passion.) </p>
<p>Fwiw, if German is important, you might suggest or help your son start a German club at his school, find online courses, or convince the teachers who taught German to provide assistance after hours. It might even offer the embryo of a good essay for Austin!</p>
<p>Most of the parents I know do not primarily blame the district for the fiasco. The Texas legislature went into Special Session in the summer to produce the final budget which contained serious cuts to education. We knew the districts would be in a pickle, and we were not sure what would be cut. I call our legislators “taxophobes.” They would rather bring down the edifice of civilization than raise taxes one fraction of a penny or eliminate any tax loopholes, no matter how unjustified or unnecessary the loopholes are.</p>
<p>I suppose we should look into the on-line classes available. I was not aware that colleges/universities would consider those as adequate. No options appear to be very attractive at this point.</p>
<p>I don’t see any reason why your child has to make a special effort to study Spanish at faster than the usual pace unless he wants to.</p>
<p>There’s a place on college applications for explaining extra things. A simple statement there like “I took two years of German followed by two years of Spanish, rather than four years of one foreign language, because my school system stopped teaching German after my second year.” </p>
<p>Your son could also ask his guidance counselor to mention this situation in the counselor’s recommendation.</p>
<p>It’s not a big deal. This sort of thing happens all the time (unfortunately for kids who want to learn languages other than Spanish).</p>
<p>We face a similar situation in Illinois, with our idiotic state legislature. So as far as that goes, no, you can’t blame the local school district. What you CAN blame the local district for is when it does what ours did, which was to cut back on English, math, science, business education, art, and music, and completely eliminate industrial arts and consumer science - but take not a penny from the athletic program.</p>
<p>Which is why I pay to send my non-Catholic son to a Catholic high school that’s 20 miles away, plus drive there and back twice a day.</p>
<p>Well, for starters, I do not see the problem, but I tried to envision the problem as the parent saw. It seems that the question was about the foreign language recommendations by colleges, and how THEY will see it. I happen to think that the “curiculum” can NEVER be more than what it is offered at a high school. If all that is offered is Spanish, and you have to take 3 or 4 years of language for your GRADUATION requirements, then that is what you have to do! If I read correctlty, this student might have German I in frosh and nothing at the moment.</p>
<p>There are different issues at play. For colleges, there are PLENTY of opportunities to demonstrate proficiency or mastery through standardized tests that can be take OUTSIDE the school. Online courses are not new and many districts have relied on them for a long time; and so have parents outside the school. </p>
<p>As far as the funding issues, I think it is easy to blame to legislators. Their job is to cut expenses in lean times, and they have to balance the needs of many with the DESIRES of others. Over the years, districts have been able to add plenty of fat in the form of luxury programs. Some consider athletic programs to be a luxury. Others think the same about fancy science programs. Others think that all foreign language except Spanish is quite the luxury in Texas. And everyone is right in some ways, and wrong in others. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that schools have never been really forced to make tough choices, and that time has come to bring a drastic dose of austerity through a combination of eradicating all waste where possible and maximizing the dollars they receive. And there is plenty of fat, waste, and deadwood in our Texas education system.</p>
<p>This won’t help your S’s situation, but I thought I’d share that several school districts in my area are using Rosetta Stone in the classroom. I believe it has only be started at the elementary level at this point, so it will be interesting to see if it is expanded to the high school. The regular classroom teachers administer the program. Our school district focuses on Spanish and French, but they also offer Chinese, which I think is a waste, but it sounds good to say we offer it.</p>
<p>I’ll say no more, at the risk of being banned for making highly disparaging remarks about a certain Texan who is currently running for high office.</p>
<p>One question: Does your community college really offer Latin? My Son (class of '09) would love to take a latin class at a cc, but none of our area cc districts offer it. One lists it on its web site, but never offers any actual sections of the class.</p>
<p>btw: blaming the legislature is good fun, but one also has to ask about the demand for the course. Our HS district dropped German a couple of years ago at my recommendation (back when I headed up a parent’s committee). German IV/AP was a combo class with less than 10 students. It just did not seem “fair” to other AP/honors students to keep that course going when other AP’s had 40+ students in them. Thus, when the teacher put in for retirement, we (parents) immediately voted to recommend to the district to drop that language. </p>
<p>There just wasn’t enough demand for it and it wasn’t cost-effective to pay a teacher to teach a class of <10.</p>