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According to what I found, only 14% of secondary schools in the US offer German, which is one percentage point above Latin. I personally never went to a school that offered German (if I did, I would have taken it). None of my friends ever went to schools that offered German, though one of my cousins lived in Minnesota and German was offered there. It was very unusual, so unusual that people remarked on it.
My first high school offered only French & Spanish. For scheduling reasons, the half-dozen freshmen assigned to honors classes were assigned French, so that was my first language. The next year, I switched to another high school, which happened to offer German, but my parents & guidance counselor insisted I stick with French. The French 2 teacher was an over-the-hill literature teacher, whose Italian-American urban accent was so thick, you could barely understand his French, with even several Francophone kids getting confused by him. The next year, I was allowed to switch to German, but the final two years of high school I barely learned anything. What I know today of German has come more from stuff picked up reading history. I was admittedly an indifferent language student, but they just don't teach languages very well, with little to no speaking or listening, and that mostly due to the individual style of the instructors.
According to what I found, only 14% of secondary schools in the US offer German, which is one percentage point above Latin. I personally never went to a school that offered German (if I did, I would have taken it). None of my friends ever went to schools that offered German, though one of my cousins lived in Minnesota and German was offered there. It was very unusual, so unusual that people remarked on it.
In the vast majority of the United States, you have two options at most: Spanish and (usually) French. Some places only offer Spanish. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have moved to a town that had a Latin program. I actually got a waiver to go to that school because it was outside my district, but taking Latin was one of the permitted reasons to switch.
In my second high school, they required two years of a modern language and one year of a classical language, and you could take more years of Latin if you wanted. I believe Greek might occasionally have been offered as well.
Language study in the United States in secondary schools is a complete joke. My Latin teacher was strict, but most people ended up with 4 years of Spanish and could still only say "Yo quiero Taco Bell".
Most of the language teachers I recall were primarily other subjects. A heavily ethnic Italian, who was primarily an English teacher, taught my 2nd year of French, and while the German teacher was the real thing, including being actually German, she was a pushover as a teacher, and also taught social studies. My Latin teacher was primarily social studies and also taught religion, was the sophomore dean and the faculty adviser for mock trial & debate clubs. Latin was WAAAAY down his list of priorities or expertise. The other main Latin teacher was the principal. Whatever the priorities appropriately given to Latin, the human capital really isn't out there to teach it on a wide scale, which I would consider a systemic flaw in education. I do recall that in my parish school, hearing about an anecdote a few years ago, where the high school's religion teacher (a lay woman) got in a lighthearted proxy argument with the Latin teacher (a priest), debating which was the more important subject. The religion teacher thought she had the edge, naturally enough in a Catholic school, only for the priest to tell his students that Latin is the language spoken in heaven, so all the religion classes would be useless when they got to heaven and were unable to converse with God. Fairly humorous if you knew the parties involved and could envision them saying those things, but what I found interesting was that they gave the Latin class to the priest, rather than have him teach religion. On the other hand, any parishioner dedicated enough to teach at the school with have sufficient command of theology to teach a high school class, while if you are going to teach Latin right, the priest is the best choice, as he is professionally fluent.
It's the little details like that, which, IMO, account for the superiority of that system. Whereas the more mainstream high schools made the language the secondary priority.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
I don't understand education priorities
22/09/2015 04:21:44 AM
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The nation is falling apart due to stupidity
22/09/2015 02:57:18 PM
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It amazes me how many parents don't seem to think they have a role in thier children's education
22/09/2015 05:44:33 PM
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It doesn't necessarily follow that education is getting worse, though.
22/09/2015 06:22:31 PM
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But it has. College is now teaching what high school should have.
22/09/2015 09:00:20 PM
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Re: It doesn't necessarily follow that education is getting worse, though.
23/09/2015 02:03:03 AM
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To some extent - not entirely - it's just that the ideas of general knowledge were different.
23/09/2015 06:25:36 PM
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You keep making this error in your logic.
23/09/2015 07:44:00 PM
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I do agree with you in large parts - but I don't see the full picture as bleakly. Maybe wrongly.
23/09/2015 10:16:54 PM
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It's more symptomatic, IMO
26/09/2015 05:49:12 PM
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We agree on most things, then. Good.
26/09/2015 11:09:40 PM
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German?
27/09/2015 03:21:51 PM
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Do you have the full statistics? That'd be interesting.
27/09/2015 04:59:40 PM
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Can you list those language choices?
28/09/2015 07:21:37 AM
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Wait, who is that a question to?
28/09/2015 06:38:20 PM
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Indeed.
27/09/2015 11:41:07 PM
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The answer you gave was less accurate than what the teacher was asking for
28/09/2015 05:06:12 PM
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A math teacher worth their salt should grade according to the solution method
28/09/2015 05:28:45 PM
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the most important thing is top give the correct answer and only one is correct.
28/09/2015 06:27:22 PM
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So apparently you get a double post even if you get a server error message.
22/09/2015 02:57:26 PM
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Surely if you invest in your child's education, you should aim to get the most bang for your buck.
22/09/2015 06:11:51 PM
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you do realize that TV is different than real life, yes? *NM*
24/09/2015 12:07:27 AM
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Then why do we need Strong Female characters? Why is it wrong to portray possible racism?
26/09/2015 05:24:05 PM
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