The Boston Globe – Johanna Seltz
“Students at Walpole High School can learn French, German, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish. At Hull High School, students have only one choice: Spanish. Massachusetts doesn’t require languages other than English to be taught, and the wide disparity in foreign language requirements and offerings is a fact of life in public schools across the region. “There are certainly very strong programs in Massachusetts, but it’s a commitment on the part of the [local school] district,” said Nicole Sherf of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association, a nonprofit group pushing for a state requirement for foreign language education. Sherf said her organization also is trying to get the state Legislature to create a “seal of bi-literacy” on high school diplomas to recognize students with foreign language expertise.”(more)