Spears and arrows

As some of you may know, many majors require students to excel to the fourth university level in a language of their choice. I am a Mass Communication major, and this requires for me to graduate with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in mass communication. Completing this requirement has been one of the more difficult aspects of my education at Georgia College & State University.

I took two semesters of French at my high school. For one reason or another, I really was unable to grasp the language. When I graduated, I could confidently say “Bonjour, J’appelle Megan. Tu faire du ski nautique?” (Hello, my name is Megan. Do You like to water ski?)

A large part of the problem was that I did not have the greatest teachers in the world. The first semester, I had a teacher that you couldn’t exactly call competent. About three months were left in the semester when she suddenly disappeared. It turns out that she was arrested for animal cruelty. She had dead cats lying in her yard and in ziplock bags in her freezer. She spent the remainder of the school year in Charter, a mental health institution. I was taught by substitute teachers, who had no knowledge of the French language, for the remainder of the semester. Her replacement tried as hard as she could, but was not able to repair the damage inflicted by the first teacher’s
three month absence.

Since I completed two semesters of French in high school, I have to start at the second level of French at GC&SU. I can take French I, but it does not count towards my total graduate hours. Basically, I would be wasting three hours out of my 127 that HOPE pays for. But, I have to because I do not have the capabilities to start in French II. Some of you might say, How do you know, unless you don’t try, but I have. I have taken French II twice and ended up dropping it, because I just didn’t have enough basic knowledge to complete the course.

This semester, I am back in French I and loving it. I know a lot of the current information that we are studying, but I am also getting a second chance to grasp concepts that I had forgotten since high school or had just not been taught.

For me, returning to French I was a necessity. I know now that I am learning the foundations of the language and will be able to successfully complete levels two through four. However, I am still bothered by the fact that this class does not count toward completing the curriculum for graduation. I think the university should look at changing this policy, because I know that I am not the only person that has had this problem.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 20 2002. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry