German says auf wiedersehen to East High

After 40 years of German being offered at East, the administration has decided to cut it from next year's curriculum. No notice, no discussions, no options. Kids at East will now have a choice between French and Spanish. That's it. After many emails and telephone calls with the principal, there is not much to be done. Herr Brandl will move to West High where in addition to German there are four other foreign languages.

But I guess this makes sense, since West has always touted itself as an college prep school and East - well, not so much... And according to East Principal Al Harris in the most recent Tower Times newspaper article about the demise of German, Harris waxes poetic about the unique farming, nursing and aviation classes East offers it students. He goes on to say that East "has not seen itself as a college prep school". Well, that's news to thousands of East alumni like me that have taken AP and other advanced courses to prepare for university study.

Here's a thought: Maybe the Madison School District could let students pick the high school best suited for their future educational and/or work goals versus the current method of attendance area and street address.

So now, Raine has the option of continuing German at another high school but not actually transferring to that school while sacrificing/traveling one to two class periods each day to take the class. So that really isn't an option. But wait, the East Administration thinks that an on-line German class could have some merit (to be taken during study hall, receive partial credit and not actually partake in German conversation.) Nice options for East High Students.

Raine met with her guidance counselor and decided to take Spanish for her sophomore year. But she can't get into Spanish 1 because her schedule next year is tight with pre-calculus, engineering and chemistry classes (which sound kind of college preppy if you ask me). So as a final choice she decided to take the only language option left, French. Assuming that her three years of middle school French would get her a pass to French 2; we really weren't surprise to find out that that class was full and not an option. Her only choice left was French 1. Ah, c'est la vie!

The moral of my story - if you are thinking about moving to Madison WI - do not buy a house in the East attendance area if you want your university-bound children to get a college prep education. Move to the west side - that's what all the smart people do, right?