My H. engineer wishes that he knew Spanish. However, his “niche” is another foreign language and his small engineering firm has been using his knowledge very extensively. He cannot go to Mexico on his own though, he needs to be in a company of somebody else who speaks Spanish. Frankly, I do not know engineering firms that are not international anymore, they all seems to be operating on the global market.
How about another major / career? Maybe not many other majors, but my D. who graduated from the medical school last year, is using Spanish a lot and also a bit of her other foreign language. She has about 5 patients who can speak only Spanish. She said that she noticed that the translation services that they use in medical settings are not 100% correct. OK, what is my D’s background? She completed 5 levels in HS, took national exam and placed in our state. Her teacher was very good, native Cuban, previously taught at college. D. placed into 3 year of college Spanish (mandatory placement test) and her major required only one semester of foreign language. The college Spanish class was one of her best college classes and one of the most useful for her. She was able to speak after this class and was able to place into Intermediate level of Medical Spanish later on while in medical school.
Why I am telling you all these details? I guess, I like to brag, but also based on our family history, Spanish is very useful in different careers, I am sure though, not all. I myself study it currently on my own. I am well passed retirement age, but I believe that I should have at least some very basic knowledge of it.
Ultimately, decision is up to your kid!
“Fluently” is too strong a term. Knowledge of a foreign language is not an AAMC recommendation. It is, and I do not think that this is recent, a recommendation for certain med schools; UCLA goes so far as to say that knowledge of Spanish is “expected.”
@micgeaux had same concern you have with my kid. My student is an engineering major now doing well as a freshman in college got into his 1st choice school – only took 2 years of foreign language in HS. Did not like it and wanted to take college engineering courses junior and senior year instead. We are CA residents and it did not impact his acceptance at UC and CSU schools — may have at a private college though. Suggest you check colleges your student may be interested in attending – to see if it will impact. BTW I support taking foreign language – some kids just have other interests and passions.
If she really wants to study engineering, I suspect two years is fine. My kid is at Northwestern in engineering with only two years of a language in high school. If she ends up wanting to study computer science as my kid did, not wanting to take a foreign language in college ruled out several universities – Duke, Boston University, and University of North Caroline come to mind. This happened because their computer science is ONLY in Arts and Science and A&S required a language. This is a different question than you asked, but it may come up later.
My oldest had two semesters of Arabic at the local community college for his foreign language. Here in CA, that is the equivalent of three years. My middle son had one semester only of Italian at the community college (two year’s equivalence). He was going to take second semester, but opted to take Animation II at the college instead. When he applied, he has the second semester on his transcripts, and even at mid-year, he was still planning on taking it. So many schools didn’t know he’d decided to take Animation II instead. I did explain it to a few schools (we’re homeschoolers, so I had to give an update).
It was risky, and I wouldn’t recommend it for non-engineering majors, but it worked out fine for him. He got into a lot of schools, even one school that required three years of foreign language. And he got into one Ivy who knew about having only the one semester. He’ll have to take two years of a foreign language in college.
@micgeaux while I am not in Texas, I know that here, despite the fact that middle school language can count as fulfilling a HS requirement and the college application required years, it generally is not looked on as favorably as HS language on a transcript, especially at more competitive schools. Assumption being that the rigor at the middle school of the course, is not there. DS19 had 2 years in middle school (7/8) of French but is taking French 3 now and will take French 4 next year. Not an engineering major, plan is theoretical physics or astro physics but the same conflict presented itself and is complicated by the fact that he does take music and has zero interest in giving it up. He really debated but it was felt that the 2 HS years would weigh in his favor more than some of his other options. How is she skipping AB Calc?
I would also say that our DS11 (graduated in Music Technology in 2015), took 2 years of French in HS. That was not sufficient for his liberal arts degree at a LAC. It resulted in a very expensive summer “immersion” opportunity to learn Spanish, in Spain. I made DS17 take 3 years of Spanish at a minimum after that happened.
@eandesmom , I am not the op, but our district allows kids to go to BC from precal with teachers permission. Teacher said 1/2 go straight to BC and the rest to AB
@VANURSEPRAC what a great option! I don’t believe we have that option although I imagine it could be petitioned for. All we really have is the ability to skip Freshman Science and go straight to Bio or Honors Bio but that’s based on testing out. There is something similar at the middle school math level if they weren’t in the accelerated program to get them on the upper track but that’s about it.
DS19 will still get BC his Senior year as he’s on their top track, but it would be nice to open up a slot for something else. With music in his lineup, there are no free slots for extra STEM which is frustrating. We also don’t have Physics C but they’ve been expanding and I am hopeful it may show up by his Sr. Year.
@eandsmom Here’s hoping for expansion
In our school you take Calc AB or Calc BC not first one and then the other. It’s not uncommon.
@VANURSEPRAC and @mathmom I wish we had those options. It’s a path here, AB required before BC.
Some high schools offer AB as calc1over à yezr, and BC as calc2 over a year. Other high schools offer AB as a slower paced calculus course vs. BC as a college-paced calculus course.
If a student feels s/he can accelerate, s/he can seek a cc course, provided there’s one within dribble distance, for instance taking calc1over the summer and jumping into BC in the fall.
Math and foreign language are both sequential and both are considered for rigor evaluation.
It is too bad that more efforts to teach Spanish speaking immigrants English are not available. Spanish speakers need to learn English instead of expecting others to learn what could be a fourth language to communicate with them. I wonder how the Asian population in California feels about requirements to learn Spanish when their family languages are not required? Moving to Florida I have discovered how many different countries Spanish speakers come from other than Mexico. Puerto Ricans have easy flow to-from here to there and their Spanish is hard to follow per highly educated friends for example.
English is the means of communication between immigrants from diverse backgrounds. So- why bother with ANY foreign language? Studying another language helps one understand how one’s own language is constructed and how it influences culture. So much we take for granted is tied to the language we speak. Get the benefits of understanding another culture, and therefore our own, while in HS and concentrate on a major in college.
^ The AP Spanish is actually called “AP Spanish Language and Culture”.
At our school if you get an A in Honors Pre-Calc you go into BC automatically and if you get a B or lower you go into AB. Regular Pre-Calc students all go into AB and anyone getting a C or lower typically goes into Stat senior year. Our school offers a full year of dual enrollment math beyond Calc which is great for the 15-20 students who need that each year. It is all pre-arranged for them so the times work which is usually an issue with dual enrollment at 4 year colleges where the calendar doesn’t play well with the HS calendar.
This is regarding 3 Years of Foreign Language. Spanish is widely offered in many community colleges. They have a course that one can take during the summer vacation, it spills into regular year a bit, but the duration is less than 6 months, can be attended ONLINE. This course needs Spanish 2 in HS as a pre requisite and some students do take this course instead of one year additional at the HS. Consult with your GC and find out from local community college, and there may be what many needs. This works for UC system in CA, and as some noted, UC only “recommend” 3 years of Foreign Language.
Ok. The U.S. does not have an official language. I thought that was known. And, Spanish was spoken here before English was spoken here. And, many Latinos speak English but prefer Spanish because it is intrinsically linked to their Hispanic culture. And, the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. I’ll shut up now before my blood pressure spikes again.
I don’t want to start something here, but it strikes me that 3 years of language in high school might be a regional thing. As a former NYstate-er (with a regents diploma) i would never have been allowed to stop at 2 years. in fact my friends and I all did 4 years (of whatever we chose, I chose French because Spanish was the most difficult at my high school and I was a slacker). Some kids added a year of Latin to that. This was a public high school. And we all went on to science or engineering majors where we used exactly none of this knowledge. It sounds like Wisconsin may be similar for college bound kids. 3 years is the expectation, for anyone going to college.
Where we live now, also a midatlantic state, it is a similar situation. I have told my 8th grader to think of it like phys ed or health…you have to do it as part of high school. Now, if she gains fluency that is a plus, but the basic experience is just part of growing up. The situation may be different in Texas. If it is, and UT or T AandM are the goal, then YMMV… Those are great schools, with or without the 3 year requirement.
My daughter’s situation sounds very similar. She didn’t mind taking another year of Spanish but wanted to use her elective spots for the Fine Arts programs she is involved in. So, just to be safe, she is taking the classes online through our local community college system. The courses are considered equivalent to Honors Spanish 3 (or 5/6 in our district) and will be ported back into her actual HS transcript when she is finished. She completed the first semester fairly easily over the summer and will do the 2nd semester starting around spring break. Our school has dual enrollment too, but that would require hre to burn a class period to take them - this was another way to get those same type of credits … just in case a school she wants to apply to requires 3+ years.
Some of our high schools offer Chinese…