I mean the whole school I went through kept nailing in our heads how much a foreign language would benefit you. I guess this went under the noses of whoever like teaching kids to balance a checkbook.

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[+] 4 points 8 months ago* (14 children)
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (3 children)

    Even for a wealthier state like New York, often thought of as more progressive on stuff like this, the actual requirements are a joke. You can just take a year of a language in 8th grade, pass the local test that meets the curriculum's criteria, and never touch it again all the way to graduation from high school. At least when I was in school, they would at least try to dissuade you from not continuing it at least one more year to get on track for some sort of special diploma, but you could just opt out if your parents gave the okay to your guidance counselor.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (6 children)

    We didn't have any foreign language classes until highschool. We had one month in 5th grade (~11 years old) where we went over some French, Spanish, and German like once a week. By the time I got to highschool, the only options were Spanish and French and I was only able to get into French due to the way they sorted people. That was fine for me, though, since I went to Canada basically every year. These were not, however, required. Some tracks would have things like Ag Sciences and more vocational classes instead. I graduated in the late '90s.

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  • [+] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    At least in my time, people going the "college prep" route generally were expected to take two years of a language in highschool. I moved for my final year to a bigger city and more affluent area and they had French, Spanish, Latin, German, and Japanese, though at least some of those were being phased out the next year (I think Japanese may have been phased out the year I moved there, but I had already had 3 years of French and was more focused on music classes as I thought I wanted to be a music teacher).

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  • [+] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

    In my generation, yes. I doubt that's changed in the last 5 10 15 really? 20 ohno 25 30ish years.

    Edit: Rural Ohio for the first part of my schooling, but not really different from what I could tell in the big city when I moved for my final year.

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