<p>Here's the dilemma, daughter is a HS Sophomore, in 3rd year of Spanish. She received a B 1st year and C the 2nd year. She is alreay struggling this year. She will make it through I'm sure(hopefully with a B), it's just I was wondering if she quit foreign language after this year with 3 years under her belt (granted not with the best of grades) how will that affect her when she goes to apply for college. She just doesn't like the class. Loves the teacher. She has expressed she would rather take 2 math classes than take Spanish again.</p>
<p>The counselor mentioned last year that they shouldn't think about quitting their foreign language after their sophomore year or they would eliminate a large number of schools from their lists.</p>
<p>I will think hard when D2 gets to middle school. I will second guess the foreign language in 8th grade. I guess I'll just have to wait to see how the other is doing academically.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea of what schools she will apply to? You can go to each school's Admissions website and see what they have for required/recommended high school preparation. Typically, they do want 3-4 years of foreign language. Even for the math/sci/engineering type applicant (I know because my S is one of those and he stayed with his language for that reason).</p>
<p>That said, schools will allow for some deviation from the recommended prep. My step-grandson is another case of an Engineering applicant. He had only ONE year of a foreign language. Still got into his first-choice school (his in-state U) although they recommended 3-4 years of foreign language.</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd guess at the schools she might most want to attend, check their websites and then give the Admissions office a call to ask how rigid they are re foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>Be aware that many colleges and universities have a foreign language requirement for college distribution requirements. Often not for Engineering; so if she is really <em>finished</em> with language studies, she needs to check on that in choosing her college application list.</p>
<p>PS If she took the foreign language in middle school and she is taking SpanishIII now, that will usually count as 3 years of foreign language for application purposes even though one was in middle school. So you can check on that as well when you ask your questions.</p>
<p>I think one important thing to find out is, as jmmom said, to check if it's considered three years of HS Spanish since she started in eighth grade. If it is, I don't think leaving then would hurt her at many places. My S quit Latin after his third year (jr year) because of a revolving door of increasingly awful teachers (he'd loved it the first yr with a great teacher.) The schools he applied to recommended four years, but accepted three, and he got accepted ED at his first choice. Because they do have two year college level requirement, and he'd gotten his back up about Latin, he sludged through four semesters of Spanish in college, complaining all the way. In retrospect, he made life difficult for himself in several different ways, but he has survived it all, and maybe even gotten something out if it!</p>
<p>Thank you for your quick responses. I have looked at some of the web sites of the schools she may be interested in. Most want 3 years of language. Which she will have after this year. </p>
<p>On that same note most say 3 years of math, she will have 5 and she will have a complete core in science. Does this help overlook the fact if she quits Spanish this year. The GC just has said that if they quit after sophomore year it looks like they are taking the easy way out.</p>
<p>One of these days, I am going to start a thread about how much I hate how languages are taught. I love learning them (to a point), but I was lucky enough never to have to take any "Language 3" class. French 3 just killed my daughter's interest in French . . . and then she repeated essentially the same class as French AP and French Whatever in college. Four years ago she was reading Camus, Baudelaire, and Kundera in French on her own; today she's looking for some way to avoid taking one more quarter of French to meet her college requirements.</p>
<p>I agree as long as she gets credit for 8th grade Spanish 1, dropping Spanish won't hurt her college admissions prospects. That said, I know the college I went to has a language requirement that you can place out of either through AP scores or a 600+ on the SAT2. I was lousy at foreign languages until my parents sent me off to France for a year. It was as though some switch went on in my brain. Not only did I learn to speak French fluently, but I found German a snap in college (even though it's not a romance language) and when I took some classes in Italian when we were living in Europe I found that easy too. Knowing these languages have made my travel experiences ever so much more enjoyable. My only regret is that I never got around to learning Spanish. It's probably not a practical suggestion, but I really found that immersion in that first foreign language is really helpful.</p>
<p>mom2two, regardless of whether your daughter drops Spanish at the end of this year, she still has one more miserable year of the language to slog through, and her C last year suggests that there are gaps in her knowledge of Spanish 2.</p>
<p>Is tutoring possible? A good tutor who could help to straighten her out on grammatical points that were poorly taught last year might make a big difference.</p>
<p>Yes I agree with you and yes we are on top of the tutoring. We definately want to see her succeed. I do want to preface her C grade last year with she had a B,B,B,C and a D on the final which is why she ended up with a C. I do blame her for that, because I think she didn't try as hard as she could of because she just gave up and she wasn't happy throughout the year with the teacher. She does like her teacher this year and hopefully that will help and also with her parents down her back.</p>
<p>mom2two, I could have written your post. Both of my kids did not excel in Foreign Languages, both are math and science kids also. My S quit his language after Sophomore year, after taking French III and did not have a problem getting into any of his schools. That being said, he is an engineering major and his school does not have a foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>My D took Spanish for two years and found that it was too much effort for too little gain. This year she decided to take French I. So she'll have two years of Spanish and two years of French. She loves French this year, loves the teacher and is doing really well. Since she had two year of Spanish, the French is coming easy. Just a suggestion of another option.</p>
<p>As a foreign language teacher, I have seen this in the past. Study of a language is foundational. We build on what the student learned the previous year. If the foundation is not strong, the grades drop with each new level and the kids struggles. Eventually, the kid reaches the level of failure. Better to eliminate the schools that require more than 3 years than to eliminate all the schools she would consider but for the F on her transcript. That F will eliminate those that the counselor is worried about, as well as many others.</p>
<p>Wow, we're in the same boat as the Op here at our house. S (a Jr.)is in Spanish 2 and currently has an F. He flailed his way thru Span.1 last year. Funny thing in Span.1 he did enough projects and all homework to get C,B,A,B for the quarters but failed the exam and got a C for the year. He says he didn't learn a thing but did enough of the busy work to get a decent grade. Now in Span. 2 (with a different teacher) and knows nothing. Also he hates every minute of it.<br>
The majors he is considering do not require Foreign Language and he will attend one of our state u's whose admissions page says 2 years required. He is doing fine in his other classes. He does not plan to take Spanish 3 and I'm not going to make him. In our school anything above level 2 is Honors and he would never make it.<br>
In our school system Foreign Lang. taken in middle school does not count toward high sch. reqiuirement. It only allows you to start out at a higher level as a freshman. Most kids I know who took F. Lang. in middle school still start out in level 1 in high sch.</p>
<p>S1 quit Latin after 3 years and took no foreign lang. his Sr. year. He got accepted and offered scholarships to all the schools he applied to (state U's).</p>
<p>Boy am I glad I started this thread. It lets me know we are not alone. </p>
<p>In our county, in middle school, they offer 2 HS classes Foreign Lang. & Math (Algebra I & Geo.). They are very upfront in letting you know they count as HS credit and go against your GPA for transcript purposes.</p>
<p>The only reason I'm worried about her quitting after 3 years of Spanish is that she will only be a Jr. next year and will have 2 years of HS with no language.</p>
<p>S took Latin 1, Latin 2. Now taking Latin 3 in his junior year but has also started taking Spanish 1. Loved old Latin teacher, doesn't like new one. Much prefers now taking Spanish. What if his senior year he drops Latin and just takes Spanish 2 Honors?</p>
<p>This year he is taking:</p>
<p>Spanish 1
Latin 3
Pre-Calc Honors
Global Studies Honors
English
Religion (required)
AP Physics</p>
<p>His senior year, as he sees it, would then be:</p>
<p>AP English
AP Human Geography
AP Calc BC
Religion (required)
Spanish 2 Honors
Marine Bio - he would like to take both Marine Bio and AP Bio but doesn't want to take 7 classes as a senior and has decided that Marine Bio is his real interest. It's supposed to be easy but heck if it's his interest I'm not going to force the hardest possible classes thing.</p>
<p>So in any case if he were to take 7 classes he would rather double up on Bio than double up on languages.</p>
<p>How do colleges see 3 years of Latin and 2 years of Spanish, hoping there's a little lenience given this year he's taking both?</p>
<p>S will be looking to apply at highly selective colleges and state universities.</p>
<p>I also think that will be fine. As I said, my S got into a highly selective school just with the three years of Latin (and aren't good Latin teachers hard to find, and keep?!). And he did so even without the other language. I think the Spanish in your S's case will definitely reinforce that he's not ducking challenges.</p>
<p>My friend's S dropped Spanish after 3 years as well because he & his family went to Prague during his mom's sabbatical & he couldn't believe how intense their Spanish class that he'd have to take would be so he opted to explore other courses in his junior year. He got into most schools he applied to & is happily into his junior year at UCSB.
My S only took 3 years of language & I don't think it hurt him in his apps either. My D will only have 3 years of language by graduation as well.</p>
<p>I want to dissent just a little on the Latin/Spanish question. If I were King of Admissions (I'm not), I would like to see kids show some actual mastery of a foreign language, living or dead, not just doing their time. And I don't think Latin 3 and Spanish 2 shows mastery of anything.</p>
<p>Also, if he has a chance to take one of the Latin APs, those are really special courses -- substantive, hard, but very cool. Much as I love Spanish (I do, it is my principal foreign language), I would hate to see a kid pass up a chance to take the only really good AP class out there.</p>
<p>Yes, he would take the Latin AP. But you really think the Latin AP is better than the Physics or Calc BC APs? </p>
<p>The addition of Spanish was prompted by a)quitting band and his mean mother said OK but he had to take something else b)his club soccer team is largely Hispanic and he has known them since he was 8 and it seemed cool</p>
<p>Then once he added Spanish and his nice Latin teacher left, then he realized that he had been missing out on the fun of knowing an actual other spoken language. This is a kid who told me at the age of 8 he wanted to learn Swedish because of some visiting family.</p>
<p>But yes, that's what I was worried about, that they would think he didn't have staying power.</p>