<p>The trend in many high schools is to offer distance learning classes in languages. I’d see what is available, and if the school system hasn’t looked into, link them to a source. </p>
<p>My daughter’s high school has students at two high schools videoconferencing to take a class, with a single teacher at one of the high schools. </p>
<p>Many high school students are taking dual enrollment classes through local community colleges. It may be possible to arrange a class during the regular high school day.</p>
<p>In any case, Spanish will be much much more useful in life. The Germans speak better English than we do.</p>
<p>And you can expect that trend to be expanding in the future. Expanding for language classes, and expanding for a great number of subjects. The reason are multiple, starting with the difficulty of finding qualified teachers for foreign languages and the realization that a distance learning process that employs competent teachers is superior than what is available locally. </p>
<p>It is only a matter of time that we realize that is not much different for most courses. Taxophobes or not, finding resources that bring a better education and introducing competition for such resources is long overdue. If our school boards and educators were in charge of communications, we’d still have the Pony Express and smoke signals instead of the internet and smart phones.</p>
<p>Was the teacher willing to phase into retirement with a declining teaching schedule so that students who had started German could continue on to the third or fourth level (but with the first level courses canceled so that no more students would enter the German sequence)? Or did all levels get canceled immediately so that students who had started German would be like the student in the original post?</p>
<p>Ah, what a shame. As a language teacher, I would put language classes near the bottom of the list of the subjects that should be taught online (speech being the bottom, albeit at my community college we offer an online speech class). And where are Chinese and Japanese? No wonder we are a pathetically monolingual nation. You can bet the Chinese are all learning English, for when they take over our sorry, ignorant asses.</p>
<p>Negative; just the opposite. Germ 3 & 4 & AP were cancelled at the end of the school year, and those taking Germ 1 were allowed to sign up for Germ 2, which would have been offered if they had a large enough enrollment, or switch to one of the other languages offered. (I forgot what the result was.) The decision to offer German 2 only was so that the then-Frosh could continue on and fulfill the minimum Cal State and UC requirements for admission (which requires 2 years of a FL).</p>
<p>btw: this is no different than colleges having to make similar decisions. USC recently dropped its German major due to lack of enrollment/interest. If I recall, at the time of the decision, 'SC had (almost) as many Profs as students in the major. (1:1 ratio is great for students, but very expensive.) 'SC still offers the language courses, but just not the major – which means upper division germ-lit courses.</p>
<p>There are very good reasons why the Chinese will learn English in addition to mastering one or several Chinese idioms. Travel through many countries in Western Europe, and you will see why English has become as effective as it is needed. People find it compelling to learn a language when it offers a modicum of return on investment and when the teaching is adequate enough to ensure some value. Knowing English is an economic (and almost social) necessity. </p>
<p>This is hardly the case in the United States, as the level of foreign language education is rarely adequate, if not entirely misguided through moronic attempts to introduce languages such as Japanese or Chinese in our high schools. Except to provide some acculturation, does anyone really believe our high schools are teaching anyone Japanese or Chinese who does … not already speak the language? At least to something more than a laughable level a la Rosetta Stone Lite? </p>
<p>For the United States, as the world learns English and aims for excellence, time has come to do the same. And that means to focus our resources where we fail badly, and that is a lot less exotic than learning a foreign language from the other side of the world. Our focus should be on ensuring that ALL our students graduate with a basic but sound knowledge of English, Math, and Sciences. Foreign language? Looking at our map and our population should suffice to select Spanish!</p>
<p>Time has come to focus on the essential and make sure we cover our bases. And stop wasting resources … just because it sounds good to Lil Soozie!</p>
<p>The world may take over our sorry, ignorant asses, but not because we can’t speak Mandarin or Russian. It is because our teenagers can’t write, read, or count like elementary school kids in most of the industrialized nations. And I did not even mention reason and think!</p>
<p>But did they just shut down the major immediately, leaving currently declared majors or those ready to declare the major unable to graduate in it, forcing them to find another major with the likely possibility of delayed graduation? Or did they announce that no students would be allowed to declare the major after a certain date, and that declared majors would have to graduate two years after that date (this is what Berkeley is doing with the Physical Sciences Field Major), so that students who had already committed to the major could still graduate in it on time?</p>
<p>The former would be more analogous to a high school eliminating all levels of German in one stroke. The latter would be more analogous to phasing it out by eliminating German 1 the first year, German 2 the next year, etc. until all students already in the German sequence have graduated, stopped taking German, or completed the third or fourth level of German.</p>
<p>Are you saying that all high schools in the US should offer only Spanish in terms of languages other than English? Of course, that is probably happening anyway, as students choose Spanish because of its utility and because it will be the last language to be cut.</p>
<p>But if a US high school offers more than one foreign language, Chinese and French would most likely be the ones with the most student interest, after Spanish.</p>
<p>All upper level languages were cut from my D’s school her junior year. She’d taken two years of French and did another year online. It was not the best class, but not the worst. Her senior year she took Spanish. I made sure our high school included a notation of the language budget cuts on our Profile (in the AP courses offered section). She was not negatively impacted, gaining ivy & top 20 admissions.</p>
<p>I understand that the school faced a sharp budget cut. I understand the district choosing to drop German, and perhaps they had no way to gradually phase it out. I do not understand why the school did not seem to feel any responsibility to work with the schedule and the students to figure out alternatives AND explain how this would fit with college requirements and how the school would communicate this to colleges. And I say that as someone who has worked on school budgets, policies, and course offerings for many years. </p>
<p>The school administration should model good adult behavior. If the facts as are the OP reported, they did not.</p>
<p>This saddens me–I took 6 years worth (block system) of Japanese in high school, and it was the absolute highlight of my education then. My teacher was wonderful, had incredibly high standards, pushed us to compete at the state and national levels in Japanese speaking and knowledge contests, and organized exchanges with high schools in Japan. Trust me, I learned far more than a “laughable Rosetta Stone level” of Japanese.</p>
<p>I think you missed my point about the usefulness of foreign languages in our high schools. When comparing ourselves to other countries, we need to use the yardstick of fluency. When other countries add English to their curriculum, it is not with the objective of adding a few words left and right. That is why they make a long-term commitment to very specific languages. </p>
<p>Fwiw, I also enjoyed a couple of years of mandatory Japanese while at my middle school. At a time when the US tought it would be dominated by Japan, all it took was a substantial donation to witness the arrival of a few native speakers and the start of a full curriculum. Oh yes, it was fun to learn how to make and drink tea, run around school in a kimono, and take rolls on the tatami. We learned a few words along the way too. We also ate sushi. On an entertainment scale, it ranked high. On an education scale, the needle barely moved. And the problem was that we were IN SCHOOL and not at the YMCA! </p>
<p>Ultimately, the mandatory component was lifted and normalcy was allowed to return. Japanese is still taught to whoever thinks it is useful. </p>
<p>Education can be for the sake of learning, and such objective is admirable. The study of exotic languages such as Japanese fits into programs of electives. </p>
<p>As far as the usefulness I commented on earlier, it seems that we are not in complete disagreement: </p>
<p>I don’t necessarily disagree, but there is a practical reality here and we only have a few “facts” with which to discuss it. The high school has a limited budget, and the teacher is limited in what he/she can teach. Unless the German teacher is multi-lingual or a math major, what other subject could s/he teach and still be considered “qualified” by the education establishment? If you cut Germ 1 in the first year (which is probably the most enrolled class), what is the teacher gonna do instead during that time period? (Manage study hall?)</p>
<p>Does it make sense to pay a full time teacher to teach a class of <10 students while a phase out is occurring? If the teacher retires, is there a qualified substitute in the area who could be hired as a PT contractor for the small classs? (If not, what should the District do? What about the impact on the other classes and teachers and students? (If one teacher has <10 students, another teacher has to have a LOT more.)</p>
<p>If the German teacher intends to retire (which is the situation you mentioned), would it at least make sense to explore whether the teacher is interested in a phased retirement, as in remaining part time (decreasing every year) to teach the declining number of German classes until all of the students who started the German sequence are no longer taking German?</p>
<p>My kids’ school offered only French. When the French teacher retired and the school decided to switch to Spanish, they arranged with the local CC to have a French teacher come in before normal school hours and teach second-year French to the kids who otherwise would have been left hanging with just one year of the language.</p>
<p>One option is to do the online class for the credit/transcript and if you have the means, to hire a private tutor so that he actually learns something. D had an awful French teacher last year, informed us that she wasn’t learning anything and asked if we could hire a tutor. We found a wonderful tutor who was thrilled to teach a motivated student instead of a student in big trouble, her usual client profile. She learned more in an hour a week tutoring session than she did her class. She got credit for the class, which of course she aced. </p>
<p>I expect her foreign language classes could get cut next year also, and she’s happy to do an online class as long as she can also have a tutor. Speaking is an integral part of language learning that is hard to replace in an online class.</p>
<p>I understand schools face terrible dilemmas with budget cuts. I still think foreign language classes are more than just electives. It takes tremendous intellectual effort to learn a second language, especially one with a different script. Language classes can be the hardest class a student takes- they require active learning, memorization, focus, and engaging the brain in ways that benefit the student in other classes, too. I know that most high school programs can’t make a student fluent. They should start learning in elementary school, preschool if possible. Not every student is a STEM major, and not all should be. We need doctors and engineers, but we also need business leaders, account executives, translators, teachers and other types of innovators.
There are also cultural benefits that result from learning another country’s language, because language is the most intimate part of a culture.
It’s xenophobic to imagine the whole world will come to us, speaking English, ready to do business. We also need to send our people to them, speaking their languages. Because of globalization many of your kids will spend part or all of their working lives overseas. We ignore this at our peril.
As for Spanish, I encouraged my daughter to take 4 years of Spanish in high school, including AP, even though many of the high–achieving students avoided the class because they heard it was hard to get an A from the teacher. Spanish is a very practical language in this country.Well, she loved her teacher, learned a lot, got her A’s, and scored high enough on the AP to satisfy the UC language requirement. Nevertheless, she’s still doing Spanish at her UC (double major)and is now in Spain on study abroad. Her language classes have enhanced her total learning experience all though her education, and as a result, she is a very global person. We need our kids to be global people.</p>
<p>Schools, and public servants in general, are waking up to the idea that they are more accountable to the public they serve, more so than ever before.
Athletics, and now we see languages are often the first cut.
But look at one alternative- cutting superintendant or administrative staff/pay. How likely is that?</p>
<p>From my screen name you might guess the CC I was referring to. It offers two years of Latin as well as many other languages, including Japanese and Chinese. It is very large and probably has more course offerings than most CC’s, but the distance to those classes from S’s school make it a poor option for now, though he could take classes there during the summer.</p>
<p>As for other questions regarding the number of students taking German, I believe it was in the dozens. There were just as many taking French and that was also cut. Certainly the great majority take Spanish, and those courses will continue.</p>