Alright my son want to go to a engineering college and most of them require 2 years of foreign language in HS but it is really difficult for him. Just to give you an idea he has a C in Spanish 3 when most of the other kids have A’s and I don’t think he has ever gotten anything better than a C- on a test. And just to be clear, when people say three years of a language, does that mean three YEARS, like freshman, sophomore, junior years? or through LEVEL 3? because he finishing level 3 as a sophomore and doesn’t plan on taking level 4 junior year.
Usually it refers to the number of years of language that appear on the HS transcript. Our middle school offers a HS level foreign language class which my D took and which appeared on her HS transcript so she dropped foreign language after sophomore year in HS (in favor of other academic electives like AP Psychology) and was fine for the colleges she looked at because her transcript showed up that she had 3 years of the language.
Do not have him take Spanish 4. It’s not going to help his admissions if he is only able to get a C.
Actually, many colleges look at foreign language in terms of highest level achieved. So level 2,3 of one language usually looks better than level 1 of three different languages.
If a college only required 2 years of foreign Lang like most do, would he be at a disadvantage or looked down upon? Also could he still apply for a college if it requires 3 years?
If he finishes Spanish 3 at his high school, he is fine for any place that requires 2 years of foreign language, and for any place that specifically requires 3 years of foreign language. Almost all of the time, what matters is the level, not the numbers of years that the classes were taken in high school.
Since he is struggling with Spanish, relative to his classmates, and he doesn’t seem to be having that kind of trouble in is other classes, I would suggest that you have him screened for learning disabilities in the dyslexia family and for hearing problems. If he has anything like that going on, it might be mild enough to not cause him problems in his other classes right now, but it could cause him problems in the future when he does get to college and the work gets harder.
It is up to him.
My D. ended up graduating with Spanish 5 from HS. Since foreign language was required in her major at college, she ended up placing into 3rd year college Spanish. it was one of her best classes at college. It opened several opportunities for her at Med. School.
However, going back to your “engineering " S”. Spanish has become increasingly more important for my engineer H. he cannot travel to Mexico by himself for the lack of Spanish, he always goes with somebody who is fluent. Frankly, we are thinking about taking up Spanish at college…and we are at retirement age,…but still working though. Very important language this days!!
Again, your S. is the only one who can decide. However, there is no reason to take it (for sure!), if he forsee having another C. He has to make sure to get an A in his next Spanish class.
Generally speaking finishing up Level 3 should be fine most places. I agree that he may have a form of dyslexia that makes language learning difficult. My sister-in-law flunked three languages in college before she was diagnosed and excused from the language requirement. He may want to specifically look at colleges or engineering programs that don’t require a language. (I know U of Rochester is one.)
Yeah he struggled a lot as a fresh and we took him in and while he has symptoms of dyslexia they were only strong enough to cause him trouble but not enough to make it a reason not to take Spanish, although he did get some meds which helped him focusing a lot in other classes. Is this something that we could tell the college? There is only 1 school that he wants to go to UW Madison but I think it would be a far reach anyways.
Possibly. My son had a 504 plan in middle school which gave him extra time and access to a keyboard. He hated being singled out and said the extra time took place in a room that was far more distracting than the regular classroom so he dropped it. I asked the GC to mention in her letter that he had a 504 plan but was not using any of the accomodations which could account for some of his less than perfect grades. I don’t know if that actually appeared in the GC letter, but he certainly got into better colleges than I expected him to.
Your son sounds a lot like my son. He really struggled with Spanish in middle school - and I think part of it was due to a learning disability where he can’t hear the difference between words he doesn’t know ( phonological awareness - he is unaware). He has trouble with things that are described by “sounds like” - which is a lot of Spanish. He switched to Latin in HS and it’s been better. But it’s too late for that.
My daughter only took through Spanish 3 as a sophomore so she could take AP Chem in 11th grade. She applied for engineering at research universities and did very well. I don’t think not having the 3rd year of language in HS impacted her acceptances. It may have for an Ivy, but she was waitlisted at another Ivy - and even so, she ended up at a great school that works for her.
In short, I don’t think he should continue Spanish. Don’t add to his frustration. Let him follow his passions. Most engineering schools won’t care. But I always believe that if you let the kids follow their interests, they will get into the right school for them - even if it isn’t what these boards consider the “best” schools.
No usually about it; level 2,3 of one language always looks better than level 1 of three different languages.
When my nephew was in the same situation. He was struggling for C’s and possibly even getting a D the last quarter in French, I made a call to some of his possible colleges. I asked whether he was more likely to be admitted if he did not fulfill the ‘requirement’ that they set forth on their website (3 years foreign language) or to perform poorly but meet the requirement. The admissions person told me to have him drop French right away! To that college, a bad grade was far worse than no grade.
As the conversation continued, the particular school I called also said that they wanted to see 3 years of the same language, but would look at the the level, not the actual number of years in high school. Because he had taken French 1 and 2 in middle school, he really filled the requirement his freshman year by taking French 3.
This was probably 10 years ago and I only called one (or was it two or three?) schools. I would suggest that you call some of the colleges that he might be considering and ask. You may get the same answer that I got which would be awesome!
As a former terrible foreign language student who went on to major in Mechanical Engineering, I also feel his pain! Good luck to him.
Alternatively, there could be nothing wrong with him at all. The class could have a large number of heritage speakers – kids who aren’t fluent in Spanish but have some background in it outside of school – and he might not be able to keep up with them.
^Good point especially with languages.
Or there could be nothing that wrong with him, but he’s not learned the tricks that work for him. Once I learned one language (French) fluently after a year’s immersion, I found all the other languages I studied after that except Chinese came rather easily. I couldn’t manage tones. My younger son had trouble learning Arabic until he spent some time in Jordan. He went from C’s freshman year in college to A’s his senior year.
We have tried all kinds of different learning tricks but none of them have worked. Unless he magically picks up a learning trick that works for him I’ll just tell him to drop it and take 4 years of everything else. I feel bad for him because all of the other kids in his class are continuing to take it and are doing well. How badly would colleges look down on him if he only had 2 years of foreign language? I know 90% of colleges only need 2 but want 3 years and others like Madison need 3, could he just balance it out by taking other classes or does it not work like that?
He’s at level 3; get the 2 years out of your head; in foreign languages, it’s the level that matters, not the # of years.
He has 3. For most places it is fine not taking the level 4 of a language, but I always suggest, if not taking 4 years in a core subject, that it be replaced by doubling up in another core subject.
Yes. It’s good to have 5 academic subjects each year. Students who don’t continue their foreign language through all four years of high school often take two social studies courses or two science courses in the same year so that they will have five academic subjects. There are other possibilities, though. For example, it’s usually possible to take AP Statistics concurrently with another math course, and this might be nice if the kid happens to like math.
So if he doesn’t take it he should double up on another class?
Well, if he doesn’t take it, he’ll have a hole is his schedule, so yes. It would be far better to replace it with another science/social science/math class than with woodworking.