Many high schools in the district, including Jackson-Reed, have certain requirements students must meet to graduate, but there are also suggested credits beyond those prerequisites that claim to help students become a ‘top-tier student’. 

One of the most controversial suggestions among these is added language credits after completion of the required two. For all the talk about the language credits, what level do these additions actually help? We’ve all sat at numerous town halls where counselors present recycled slides to answer the same questions, scanning over the list of necessary credits, and then getting to the oh so important caveat that you really need more. 

In my very unqualified opinion, the importance of racking up as many language credits as possible is overstated. That being said, language is an incredibly important thing to have on your transcript, and can boost your likelihood of acceptance into college, especially if you are looking to major in anything that has to do with communications or public relations. It’s also important to mention the benefits of understanding a foreign language for travel purposes and communication with those who speak a different language from you.

However, pushing the idea that you should prioritize building up as many language credits as possible in high school is not necessarily productive, nor the best use of your time as a student. If you are a student who knows what you want to do later in life, and know language is not something you feel is worth spending your time on or would benefit your experience, you shouldn’t be ridiculed for dropping a class that simply does not help you.

In high school, it’s common for students to feel like they’re just taking a class for a credit and not learning something valuable to them, by junior and senior year, students supposedly have freer rein with class selection, and with said freedom, students should be learning something they are interested in and want to learn. 

It is easy to get wrapped up in the whirlwind of transcripts and requirements when selecting courses, so why push kids even farther into it by making them feel bad for taking a class they know they don’t want to take? •