Resurrecting a topic that I think is increasingly relevant: does anyone know colleges that do not have a foreign language requirement to get a degree? Not talking about just for admission, but for getting a bachelors degree.
There are reasons other than learning disabilities, or ADD for example- the most common being is it’s especially hard when you are older going back to school to learn a foreign language. You’re brain is just not wired the same as when you were younger for learning it.
There is also the question of relevancy.
1.) Lots of older people who are in professional positions, especially technology related, are often already doing the level work someone with a bachelors might, so why would a foreign language be that necessary?
2.) Studies seem to indicate learning a foreign language has little impact on future success, especially if your career is more domestically focused. I can understand it being a requirement in foreign affairs and relations studies, but that is more a niche application that only serves a very small percentage of students.
3.) Increasingly, even if your company works with foreign entities, the de-facto language of international business has pretty much become English. So again, learning a foreign language only serves an extremely small percentage of students, and that’s IF you happen to work somewhere that the language applies!
4.) One of arguments for learning foreign language has historically been to have appreciation for other cultures. With modern social media, Internet, and general media these days, I would argue people are FAR more culturally aware of the nuances of other cultures and politics than they were just 30 years again. I would argue someone who only knows English, but has an avid interest in other countries, travel, and foreign affairs is probably far more foreign culturally aware and sensitive than someone who 30 years ago passed their foreign language classes, but never went anywhere or never had interaction with foreign persons.
So that answers some of the “why’s”, since “why” often get’s asked when this topic is brough up.
So the question is aimed towards the benefit of those going back to school, or who in general may have problems learning a new language, especially later in life, and where arguably it offers very little benefit for the great majority and the historical reasons have lost most of it’s relevancy.
I had never taken a language course in university, and my older daughter I think never took any foreign language course in university. This got me searching to see whether the universities that we graduated from have a foreign language requirement. Much to my surprise they do – we just fulfilled it well before reaching the end of high school. It appears that high school classes did count towards fulfilling the foreign language requirements at least in our cases (and in my case the “foreign” language I studied wasn’t foreign, since I am from Montreal). I do not recall anyone in the university ever asking me to show that I had any foreign language ability.
Did you complete any foreign language courses when you were in high school?
Having traveled around the world on business for 40 years, I have found that English is the only language which is useful nearly everywhere. I might have used French 3 or 4 times in 40 years. There might be 10 other languages that I don’t know but could have used 2 or 3 times each over the years, but I instead got by with politeness and English (probably in that order).
You need to look beyond if the college requires a foreign language to if the school within the college requires the credit. For example, at UMN the School of Liberal Arts requires proficiency at the 200 level of a foreign language for a degree, while the College of Forestry and Natural Resources does not. You can complete a major in CFANS and a minor in CLA and still not need to take a language class. However, if you major in CLA and minor in CFANS, you would need to complete the credit.
UT Austin (CNS) allowed a year of foreign cultures to replace foreign language. UCSD Muir college also allows you to skip foreign language by taking a full year of both fine arts and humanities.
My s21 used a year of asl through cc for high school and college requirements which is an option to consider. It was light for college admissions and may have restricted him there, but ended up working great otherwise.
When we toured Union College (NY) a few years ago there was no foreign language requirement to graduate. Not sure what HS coursework was recommended/required for applicants.
At some schools it depends on the major. For example foreign language is required ar Fordham (where my S went) UNLESS you are in the business school (which he was). Again, not sure what HS coursework in the subject was recommended for applicants.
My D who did not love foreign languages was able to meet her college’s requirement through a summer program abroad. That may not work for you.
I suggest you come up with a list of schools that meet your financial/academic/social needs and check the online course catalogs for each college’s graduation requirements for the major you plan to pursue. You can also google each school’s common data set and see what level of HS coursework is required/recommended for applicants.
It may depend on your major. In the dark ages when I went to school, a BA, thus any majors in the college of Arts and Sciences (including English, history, bio, chem, geology) did require a foreign language (but I think you could take ASL) but most of the BS degrees (engineering, business, recreation) did not. I don’t think the BFAs in music did, but I think Dance was in the A&S college. I’m just trying to remember the majors of my friends.
At my daughter’s school, again A&S requires a foreign language but most of the other colleges do not (business, engineering, agriculture).
There are also languages that don’t require spoken fluency, like Latin or Greek.
Both son’s were not required to take any foreign language in college for their degree. I really think it is more major dependent than school dependent. One son went to San Diego State as a CS major and the other went to UC Davis as an Environmental Science major.
When DD was an engineering major, she did not have to take a foreign language as this was the college of engineering. She added a second major in biology which was in Arts and Sciences and a FL was required to graduate. She tested out of a year and convinced them to waive some of the requirement…but do check different colleges and majors within the university as this does vary.
DS, the music performance major had no FL requirement in college.
It is actually fairly common (but not universal) not to require foreign language for engineering bachelor’s degrees, even if other majors at the same college may have such a graduation requirement.
Of course, some “open curriculum” schools like Evergreen State, Amherst, and Brown do not have foreign language graduation requirements.
However, the general answer to your question is that you need to investigate each college of interest individually to see whether its graduation requirements include foreign language to a higher level than the student is likely to be capable of attaining.
I think the OP is talking about colleges that have no language requirement while in college, not in high school applying to college. Which colleges do not have a language core requirement or language distribution requirement?
Colorado College has a language requirement. You need to take 2 blocks of language. This requirement is particularly irksome to me, as while there are advantages to the block plan, I don’t think taking a language for 7 weeks even though it is “immersive” to not take it again is a worthwhile use of your time.
Brown University, which has no core/distribution requirements other than a minimum courseload and fulfilling the requirements of a major, does not require foreign language while in college.
Students may combine high school and college work to meet requirement. Students with prior language experience (formal/informal) may take a placement exam to begin in higher level coursework.
BA
Completion of fourth level of a single language
OR
Completion of second level of one language AND third level of a second language
I believe this is the case at my daughter’s school as well (Virginia Tech). She is a finance major and a foreign language is not required in the business school.
At Utah, many majors have the option of a BA or BS, with the BA requiring a foreign language and the BS requiring on additional upper level quantitative course. Unsurprisingly (since the quant course usually counts as one of the major courses and the language courses don’t) the overwhelming majority (85-90%) of graduates got a BS instead of a BA.
Many LACs don’t require any FL, even the ones which have distribution requirements. The distribution requirements can often be fulfilled by taking cultural diversity classes, which is broader than FL.
If one wants to study abroad in non-English speaking country, some schools will require a certain level of language proficiency in order to participate in that program.