<p>I am a parent, cross posting in Engineering as well.</p>
<p>Is FL required - As part of undergrad engineering curriculum? I know it depends on the individual college but thought I would also post it on the boards here :) </p>
<p>Reason I am asking is S2 is HS senior taking AP Spanish, non-native, likes the class but finding hard to keep up with HW assignments (2-3 hours alt nights). This is his 5th year doing Spanish. </p>
<p>If he 'has' to do a language in college then it might make sense to just hang in there? He plans to do either Mech or CS for now. Doing very well in AP Calc, AP Physics C and APCS.</p>
<p>Grading is very hard at this school. Counselor recommends he drops.</p>
<p>At my current school no language is required. It seems a lot of people take a language for fun, often one that is different than what they did in HS.</p>
<p>At my old school(I transferred) you only needed to take 2 semesters of a language if you didn’t take 2 years in HS.</p>
<p>I’m a Computer Engineering major and I’m taking Italian for my own enjoyment. If it doesnt click I might take Russian next year instead.</p>
<p>If your son already had 4 yrs of Spanish I don’t think there is really any negative side to dropping the 5th year provided he can replace it on his schedule so it doesn’t look bad that he dropped a class.</p>
<p>Thank You^. The deadline is tomorrow to drop.</p>
<p>He has 7 classes so dropping 1 should be ok, lots of kids keep 2 frees for the 1st semester senior year for college apps. I think its rather late to add a class now. Will double check to make sure. </p>
<p>He loves languages, the only issue is the amount of work. There are native spanish speakers in the class so the curve is rather harsh. Yup he could take a new language altogether in college :)</p>
<p>Here’s a different perspective: he’s not in fact an engineering undergrad. He’s a HS student. HS is when one builds a foundation by taking a broad curriculum. He reportedly loves languages. </p>
<p>So why is it that he should drop AP Spanish? Because it is work? What? Why not drop a class like AP CS that may have a more questionable relationship to “real” CS courses in college instead? I would imagine that the answer would be that he loves that, too. </p>
<p>My son’s senior year schedule was AP Calc, AP Physics, AP Chem, AP Spanish, AP French Lit (he had already taken AP French Lang), an AP English equivalent, and a couple of required electives, for a maximum load of 7+ courses that left him with precisely one free period per week, only it wasn’t free because he met with the teachers of his AP French Lit independent study then. He had no intention of majoring in a STEM subject in college.</p>
<p>Now, he could handle this load, but the last thing I would do is encourage a kid to drop a class that he loves.</p>
<p>My S didn’t take foreign language for his SR year in HS. His engineering school (USC) did NOT require foreign language. My D was having a hard time with her foreign language in HS, so finally gave it up. In her own time, she taught herself German & then took 2 6-week summer courses in German at flagship U & then 3rd semester German at her private U–satisfied her language requirement and was relieved to stop taking language in HS (the language she was taking was just not clicking for her in HS–the language she switched to was a joy to her).</p>
<p>I see your point consolation, he loves the language and that is why he took AP spanish in the first place, but this course is taking up the maximum amount of his time outside of class and dragging him down stress wise. </p>
<p>My older son was not a language kid at all and got into USC, which is where the younger son wants to go too…fingers crossed. </p>
<p>S2’s favorite subjects used to be History and Spanish and now he has done a complete turn towards Math/Physics/CS and surprised us all!! He is loving these subjects and doing really well. I think in the end its nice to see them find their own balance.</p>
<p>After three years of Latin, S1 did not take a foreign language his senior year. The big state u. known for engineering that he attended did not require engineering students (and lots of other majors) to take FL in college if they had taken two years in h.s. with a B avg. or three years in h.s with a C avg. S1 was relieved to not take FL his senior year. He was a Dean’s List student in college and grad. w/ honors. That year of no FL didn’t hurt him at all.</p>
<p>Our older S graduated in 2010 with a degree in systems engineering. There was no foreign language requirement for engineers at his college. He did not take a foreign language his senior year in high school for similar reasons–too time consuming and he had already taken three or four years (can’t remember which). </p>
<p>He did, however, choose to take a summer language immersion course in Peru between his freshman and sophomore years in college for fun. He felt that he learned far more that summer than he would have with one more year of the language in high school and became conversationally fluent in Spanish, which was a level he was nowhere close to achieving in high school. </p>
<p>He also decided to learn Portuguese over the next two years (including two more summer immersion programs, two college courses, and a semester abroad studying engineering in Portuguese). He works now in Brazil for a Portuguese engineering consulting firm. All of his work for this firm is conducted in Portuguese. While good with the language, he continues to work hard in the evenings with extensive reading and studying to bring his fluency to the next level.</p>
<p>In sum, not taking a forgeign language his senior year in high school had no negative impact. I don’t think it would have been the best use of his time, even though ultimately developing language skills was important to him.</p>
<p>Our younger S is also studying engineering, at a different college. There is no foreign language requirements at his college. He hates foreign languages. He took Latin in high school for three years, with no language his senior year. He will not do a study abroad program and will not take any foreign language in college. We are fine with that.</p>
<p>DD, the engineering major, didn’t take FL in either 11th or 12th grade in high school (she had taken spanish 4 as a 10th grader). HOWEVER…she did have to take a term of Spanish in college when she picked up her second major…biology. She actually successfully petitioned to only need one term (as it was a second major)…the College of Engineering had no foreign language requirement but the College of Arts and Sciences (which confers Biology degrees) had a one year requirement. </p>
<p>In the end…it didn’t matter…she said the Spanish she had in high school came back like riding a bicycle.</p>