It’s interesting that many people are commenting that it’s now how many years of a foreign language you take in high school but the highest level you complete that matters. This is contrary to what I believe (but I’m struggling to account for where/how I formed my belief). I seem to recollect being in an info session for University of Delaware and the rep stating that they wanted to see a kid taking the 5 core academic subjects all 4 years in high school - language being one of those 5 core. Perhaps this was predicated on an assumption that no language was taken in the middle school but I’m not sure I buy that. Both of my kids took two years of language in middle school and will take 4 years of that same language in high school even though the high school graduation requirement is only 2 years (taken in high school).
@adlgel you have language classes that go up that high? The highest mine could go would be AP, which would follow level 4. In the case of my freshman if he did take it (and he may, it’s up to him) that would still only get him through his junior year.
I guess that is possible UCB, but seems like that the school would somehow have to accommodate the rising juniors that need one more year of their language to finish the state requirement if the German teacher retires and they don’t want to rehire. in our HS they phased out German and I think the teacher went from full time to part time to no time over a few years. Or they would have to waive the language requirement and tell the college why. I am not sure that is a good reason not to take a language other than Spanish.
It’s an interesting question. Our HS removed German as well but it was before my kids were in HS so I don’t know how it was phased out. I just know the kids were really sad it was.
@eandesmom Yes we do, my son is taking French 6 in his senior year.
Colleges vary a bit on how they count languages. Most when pressed will say that it’s the year of the language that count, not the number of years in high school. A handful want to see the number of years in high school. My younger son after researching the question decided to take Latin 4 so he’d have 3 years in high school. He knew Latin would be the lowest grade on his transcript, so it was really tempting to drop it. Plenty of colleges (even ones that recommend more) will accept students who have only done two years of a language.
And BTW I don’t think the OP’s kid should switch languages - I think all the romance languages are similar in difficulty and Spanish is by far the most useful for most Americans.
Chinese grammar (and I only took a semester at a community college in Germany) seemed relatively easy, but you have no cognates, it’s a very different grammar and the tones are a very different approach to communication. We use tones too, but to ask questions and exclaim. Trying to switch to a different way was very hard on me.
I would think if the student took a language through the AP level and scored a four a five it wouldn’t matter if they took only one year of language in high school. But colleges can interpret things any way they want.
Although I would not think it fair if the student was a native speaker.
I went through the college admissions process last year, and I specifically asked this question of all the colleges I was considering (admittedly, still a small subset) and they all said it’s the level completed that matters. I am sure there are one-offs who only count years in HS, but I don’t think that any of those are ones that require/recommend 3+ years.
Well, what do you know, you are correct for UDel, although they also only require 2 years.
http://www.udel.edu/admissions/apply/
However, the dagger only follows the required, not the recommended. Make of that what you will.
A native or heritage speaker should be placed in the appropriate level, rather than starting in level 1. If beyond any level the high school teaches, s/he could take the AP test to show proficiency, but some colleges may still want to see another language studied in high school.
That’s interesting about the University of Delaware, and I think it’s a new development.
Some years ago (quite a few, actually), my son, who completed Spanish 3 in ninth grade and never took a foreign language again, applied to the University of Delaware and was admitted with a merit scholarship. (He chose to attend a different college, though.)
He would never have applied under the current system because he wouldn’t have been eligible to apply.
At my son’s high school, which did discontinue German, they did absolutely nothing to accommodate the students. I think they were counting on the general principle that college admissions officers won’t penalize kids who get screwed by the system. There were definitely kids who had completed German 1 and 2 and could not go on to German 3.
I’m not sure what is covered in Spanish in your son’s high school, but my Spanish classes seem to follow the standards here fairly closely - https://www.nationalspanishexam.org/index.php/exam-content/exam-specifications/. The grammar for level 2 seems to be go at a much faster pace than level 1. I’m not sure how helpful it would be to repeat level 1, when he is planning on taking level 2 anyways. It might even be a good idea to plan to repeat level 2. I took up to AP Spanish (5th year Spanish at my high school), and Spanish 2 was by far my most difficult class. Looking back, I think this was mostly because I had to adjust from the pace of Spanish 1.
Just a little note on placement tests: DD was in a situation similar to OP’s son and took a placement test for Spanish II when she entered (Catholic) HS from secular middle school. She didn’t pass, and when I asked why she thought tha happenedt, she said there were cultural questions she had no idea how to answer. It turns out the placement test was the Spanish I final, and there were several questions about sidebar topics the text. We bought a cheap copy of the text, she familiarized herself with the sidebar content, and did well enough the second time to place into second year Spanish.
That said, I think retaking Spanish I is a legitimate choice to improve foundation and allow son more time and effort on other 9th grade subjects.