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<p>Yes, and ‘mastery’ is the key word since few colleges have the resources to get there. The point is that the common first year & second year language courses are curved quite generously. As they should be since a first year language sequence is nothing but HS level work, just compacted. Frosh language in college is the approximate level of two years in high school. Even Rassias teaches ~one quarter of intensive language in 10-days! And this is for beginners, with absolutely zero prior language. Try learning a quarter of Chem in 10 days without ever having taken it before. Heck, try learning chem over a quarter without ever having taken it in HS.</p>
<p>Even Dartmouth’s Russian majors take their many upper divisions classes in ENGLISH. And bcos advanced grammar in a language does not a BA make.</p>
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<p>I would say that an ‘ology’ major can be more difficult than a language major, absolutely. It’s all a matter of where a Prof draws the curve. If the average grade in Lang 1 is an A and the average grade in other course 1 is a C+/B-…</p>
<p>Dartmouth gives out a lot of C’s in Econ, for example, but clearly Penn and Columbia do not. Does that make Dartmouth’s econ more difficult to ‘master’ relative to their Ivy colleagues? </p>
<p>btw: perhaps the kids should have chosen the urban Ivies…:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1089116-penn-mulls-grade-inflation-after-leaks.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1089116-penn-mulls-grade-inflation-after-leaks.html</a></p>