May 02, 2007 12:30 AM
Educators spar over requirements
By T. Keung Hui, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - Foreign language may be out now, but arts and vocational courses may still be in as graduation requirements for North Carolina high school students.
A State Board of Education committee agreed Tuesday to drop requirements that high school students take two years of foreign languages. Officially, the foreign language requirements will only be delayed, but no date was set for when they'd be implemented.
The Globally Competitive Students committee also agreed that new rigorous graduation requirements should be delayed a year. They'd go into effect now with freshmen entering in 2009.
The full board could approve both items on Thursday.
"The board agreed that they needed more time before curriculum changes could be implemented," said state schools Superintendent June Atkinson.
Still uncertain is whether students will be required to take a vocational course, officially called career and technical education, and an arts course. Administrators proposed the new course requirements on Tuesday after being lobbied by arts and vocational groups.
In December, the state board toughened graduation requirements so all students except those with severe learning disabilities would have to take courses designed to prepare them for college.
For instance, the new standards required students to take four years of math and two years of foreign language. Currently, students who plan to go to a two-year college or directly into the work force only need three years of math and have no foreign language requirement.
The new standards were immediately met with complaints.
Some groups, including those who support the tougher standards, said implementing them in fall 2008 wouldn't give school districts enough time to prepare for the changes.
Other groups argued that requiring students to take a foreign language in high school wasn't feasible considering how many teachers high schools would need to hire.
Committee members agreed with administrators who recommended Tuesday delaying the foreign-language requirement and waiting until 2009 to adopt the graduation standards. In particular, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Superintendent Neil Pedersen pushed for foreign language to be made optional.
"Schedules will be full," said Pedersen, an adviser to the state board. "I would support allowing students to get opportunities for enrichment and not requiring them."
Even if a foreign language is not required by the state, college-bound students will still take a foreign language to satisfy requirements for the University of North Carolina system and other four-year institutions.
But the committee's decision disappointed Karen Tharrington, a foreign-language teacher at Wakefield High in North Raleigh and past president of the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina.
"By leaving it out, they're saying that a second language isn't important to society," said Tharrington, who attended the committee meeting.
Another debate
The debate was more heated over the arts and vocational requirements.
The arts and vocational lobby felt the new requirements slighted their programs. They made up most of the turnout at eight regional meetings held to discuss the new graduation standards. As a result, administrators on Tuesday recommended requiring students take one course in each area.
But Kathy Taft, co-chairwoman of the committee from Greenville, said they shouldn't just add the arts and vocational requirements because that's what the loudest group asked for at the meetings. She said she's concerned about taking away options for students to pick courses they want to take.
Wilson County Superintendent Larry Price, an adviser to the state board, said the requirements are unnecessary considering that 70 percent of graduates are taking at least one arts course and 75 percent are taking at least one CTE class.
But committee member Edgar Murphy of Durham said both kinds of courses are vital to learning about creativity.
Pedersen said it's wrong to say that students can only learn about creativity by taking an arts class.
Rebecca Garland, executive director of the state Board of Education, warned the committee about the message that would be sent if arts weren't required.
"You're making a statement to the public about the importance of arts versus social studies," Garland said.
The committee agreed to resume discussion of the arts and vocational courses at a later date.
Staff writer T. Keung Hui can be reached at 829-4534 or keung.hui@newsobserver.com.
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