A is a freshman and took German this year for foreign language. I’m South American and we speak Spanish to each other at home. A wants to take Spanish for the rest of HS, to improve grammar and writing skills, also because it would be easier, but dad (he’s half German) feels that a college application for a Hispanic kid that list Spanish as a foreign language will hurt A’s chances. I know a lot of Hispanic kids do this because speaking a language is not the same as being fully bilingual. Could it really be bad for a college application? A is an honor student with 4.0, involved in sports, music and volunteering. I’m glad A recognizes shortcomings with second language and wants to do something about it. Any thoughts? Thank you!!
It is fine if you explain why as you have done in this thread. After all, all US students are required to take four years of English.
Your Dad is probably aware of Chinese nationals taking Chinese AP or SAT II exams (I forget which) just to get an additional high test score on their admissions application.
If the high school or a nearby college offers Spanish courses specifically for heritage speakers, choosing the appropriate level of such courses would probably be the optimal choice.
If not, the student should ask the Spanish teachers what level s/he should start in, based on his/her existing skills in the language. If s/he speaks Spanish well and has some reading/writing skills that s/he wants to improve, it is likely that the appropriate course is a higher level one than the beginner course.
I’m not sure this will be much help but I’ll add. My D is Latina, 2nd Language Spanish (my spouse is from South America). At my D’s high school the only option was Spanish up to Spanish 4. There is an option offered by the School District to take a placement test to place out of Spanish. We were advised by the College Counselor not to do this but to take Spanish 4 and have it on the transcript as most Colleges just note that Foreign Language level 4 was completed and don’t care what it is. So that’s what my D did. She marked Spanish as a second language on Common App and her transcript listed Spanish 3 and 4 (she couldn’t take Spanish 4 as a Freshman in HS as it conflicted with her Math so she took 3 and 4. I have no way of knowing if it effected her college admissions but she did quite well.
I’ll add that my D attended a Spanish Immersion primary/middle school so she was fully literate in Spanish by the time she was in HS.
At my kids school (~50% Hispanic) they have separate AP Spanish Language classes for native speakers and non-native speakers. Then AP Spanish Literature is a (small) combined class and 70% of the students this year are native speakers (my kids are not). In past years the % of native speakers has been even higher.
AP Spanish Lit is just as rigorous as AP English Lit, except in a different language. Most non-native speakers find it too hard (90%+ stop after AP Lang) and for my kids it is certainly the most challenging class of their entire 4 years in HS.
Also I’ll add that my D placed out of the FL requirement with Spanish at Princeton by taking their online exam and then a followup Oral Exam once she got to campus in the Fall. So Princeton doesn’t hold it against you that you grew up bilingual that just want their graduates to have a second language no matter how they got it. It’s probably that way at just about every school with a couple of possible exceptions - maybe Middlebury being one.
The department chair at my institution would point out there is a significant difference between a native speaker and a heritage speaker. Heritage speakers can very much benefit from the study of a language they may speak in the home or with the family but not elsewhere.
Yale and the USMA are two schools that require at least one foreign language course even for those with high level proficiency in a foreign language (such students would take a higher level course if they choose they language that they already have high level proficiency in).
Definitely consult with the Spanish teachers. Because I’d dragged Happykid to Spanish School every Saturday from 3rd grade on, her level would have put her directly into AP Spanish Language, as a freshman. The AP teacher advised against that based on her experience with 9th graders who hadn’t fit in well with the juniors and seniors in the AP classes. Happykid stuck with weekend school through 10th grade, and took Latin as her foreign language in HS. In college when she needed to come up with 3 more humanities credits, she took the Spanish CLEP test and ended up with 12 credits 
There are a lot of ways to work this!
Thank you for all the tips, A is going to talk with the Spanish teacher about starting at Spanish 2 or maybe 3 and then taking and AP class. He was in a Spanish immersion school until 4th grade, after that it wasn’t offered where we moved, but that was enough to acquire a good vocabulary and some writing skills. We speak Spanish at home, but he definitely needs to improve grammar and writing.
I guess I don’t get the problem. My my mom is 1st generation. Her first language was Spanish but she didn’t teach us. It really wasn’t done as much when I was growing up. I think only 2 of my 15 cousins learned it it the home if they did at all. My kids are down to a 1/4. Both took Spanish in HS though son took “Spanish for Native Speakers” because he went to Spanish Immersion school. Didn’t seem to cause them any problems with admissions.
Let your son take the language he wants. Formal grammar and literature is vastly different than the home version. There is a reason English (by whatever name is used currently) is required in HS. Plus- Spanish varies based on the country of origin. Good idea to have him discuss and get the best fit possible. Also- it is a good idea to get three or four years of the same language in HS to be competitive for colleges and perhaps meet foreign language degree requirements.
btw- past fourth year it is for the love of the language/culture since the basics are learned by then. I learned a lot about English grammar with my HS French. Was excellent at usage of English but never (thank goodness) taught to label parts of speech, tenses et al. French taught me a lot of the mechanics of how languages are structured. Likewise your son will learn subtleties about how languages work.