My children have taken high school-level Turkish for three years. We thought that it was nice to try something so different, but recently found out that our state won’t count the language towards its “world language” credit requirement.
That caused me to wonder if some colleges also might not count those credits toward their foreign language prerequisites. There’s still time (2 years) for the kids to take a different language. But my question is whether they should just take one year of Spanish or Latin to satisfy the state requirement, or whether they should take a couple of years of Spanish to meet any college requirement.
Is there a way to document that this is taught at the equivalent to high school level? Is it your state that won’t recognize it, or your school? I would appeal the decision before having them take another language. I doubt any college would disallow a specific language if you can demonstrate that it was taught at the HS level. Most students don’t have that much control over which languages they can learn, and disallowing certain languages would seem to place more value on those that are accepted.
The Turkish classes were taught in their charter high school, and they receive high school credit for the classes. The state just won’t let them count any of those three credits towards their world language, one credit requirement. The 3 credits, instead, count for electives. But it sounds like it should be okay for colleges. Is that what you also think?
Clearly there is a problem at the state level, and that is something that you should help the charter fight for. Like maybe with someone in the state legislature education committee? For crying out loud. It’s not like you are asking for credit for Klingon or Elvish!
This doesn’t sound right. I can’t imagine a state not accepting credit for a language taught at a high school. Have you asked what is the state’s justification for this?
When granting the charter school its charter, the state must have agreed to some funky arrangement about language credits. That’s between the state and the charter school. It would not concern a college; they don’t care at all about the specific arrangements or hoops the charter school had to jump through. Colleges want to see commitment to stick with a language to a fairly high level, and many will care about the habits of mind that are cultivated by language study.
Turkish is a language with a fascinating cultural and political resonance, and of course a college would find it unusual and interesting. It seems that a year of another language will be necessary to satisfy the state requirement, but if a fourth year of HS-level Turkish is also available to your kids, that would likely be interesting to colleges.
Do you know why the state will not accept them? Is it because it is Turkish, or because the charter school’s languages are not approved for some other reasons? Does the charter school know?
Colleges want students to gain exposure to other cultures and show a focused, sustained interest in a foreign language (3 years is usually plenty).
If Latin is fine, Turkish is fine.
It’s sad that it’s an issue with the state. If forced to, take the 1yr to satisfy the state. But if there’s another year, colleges would prefer continuing with 4 yrs of Turkish over 3 and 2, IMHO.
No, I haven’t. The school’s executive director felt certain he could get them to add it to their list of accepted languages. But he was too optimistic. Since we heard this news, I’ve learned that our state also does not accept Italian. They have a limited number of acceptable world languages, and I don’t know why.
Thank you, RichinPitt. A 4th year of Turkish is not an option – the school won’t offer it because of too limited demand. But, on the positive side, my daughter scored 2nd in a Southeastern Turkish proficiency test for the Turkish Olympiads (Yes! There really is such a thing!). So she does understand the language, which is something.
In addition to the language considerations (which everyone agrees are no cause for concern)…
When colleges look for extracurricular activities they are looking for a depth of interest and involvement. The fact that your kids have been doing this for several years and have been involved outside of school in the Olympiad will benefit them in their lives, and probably in their college applications, too. Well done!
I’m sure the school would love to straighten this out immediately! But if the state hasn’t yet figured out that they need to credit Italian as a world language, I don’t imagine the school can exert a whole lot of control regarding Turkish. The advice to “Choose your battles” comes to mind.
• No college cares what foreign language is studied in HS,provided that HS credit is earned. I’ve used as an example before: If an applicant from the Punahou School, for example, presents an exceptional application package, no AO is going to say, “Darn, I would have admitted him if only he didn’t choose to spend 4 years studying a useless language like Hawaiian.”
• If the college has a foreign language requirement to graduate, a student who studied a less commonly taught language.like Turkish, may have an issue with an exemption.
• I’m not an expert on SC public education, but my guess is that you were given incorrect information when told “our state won’t count the language towards its “world language” credit requirement.” I highly doubt that lawmakers went out of their way to exclude Turkish (and Italian). I further doubt that a charter school would offer a language that does not comply. If this impacts your kids getting a HS diploma, then I would fight it.If it’s not going to prevent them from getting a diploma, I’d forget about it and move on.
Pages 53-62 specify which foreign languages count.
Non-dual-enrollment languages offered by the high school:
ASL
French
German
Latin
Russian
Spanish
Japanese
Chinese
IB-designated world languages not otherwise specified
Dual-enrollment languages:
French
German
Russian
Spanish
ASL
Portuguese
Japanese
Chinese
Arabic
Italian
Latin
Everything else falls under “Local Board Approved (“LBA”) World Language (Cannot count as a World Language graduation credit, but can serve as an elective credit.)”
Infesting. I think if they are interested in foreign service, a school like Georgetown will actually like this language. They seem to like self taught languages with some ec proof supporting it etc. Obviously it’s only a small part of the picture for any school.
If tour child enjoys it, perhaps an accredited online course or local state uni one off class could make it even more useful.
Turkey is becoming a hotbed of foreign policy concerns and opportunities.
Does the Turkish count in the IB-designated world languages not otherwise specified?
The Turkish would be a plus in terms of college apps, IMO, because of the interest factor. If your kids want to continue in Turkish, they should screen the colleges’ foreign language offerings because that would be a limiting factor. How it would count as an exemption from college foreign language requirements would vary.
My son had an issue in high school with foreign language as well. We moved from one state to another. He had two years of German when he entered junior year at his new school. The school did not offer German as a foreign language. It had a three year foreign language requirement for graduation, as did the state Regent’s requitrement (NY). He took a third year of German on his own through an after school German program he found, passed the Regents exam, and the school gave him a pass because of that. So, yes, these quandries do happen
Seems like from the list any IB language course could count, but that requires the high school to offer courses in that language conforming to IB curricula.