Yr9 Options - How important is a language

[erico]

My daughter is about to choose her GCSE options.She currently studies French and German but at best would probably only achieve Grade C at GCSE. This would mean giving up a subject she would rather study.

The school suggests we should encourage her to choose a language for the sake of improving her chances of getting to a good university. How important is a language?

I agree with the school tbh. If she intends to go to uni, not having a language can be a barrier for certain courses at some uni's.

If she is capable of getting at least a C she should do it, I agree with the school

Speaking a foreign language can be a great advantage personally and professionally, and once you are fluent in one, it's definitely easier to pick up others in the same 'family'.

I know schools like to predict what students will 'probably achieve' in 2 years time, but if your DD took part in a school exchange or had a holiday where the target language was spoken, she might well do better (if only because of the huge effect of motivation on language learning).

That said, make sure your DD keeps up her sciences - too many students, especially females, drop science early. It really narrows the pool of future careers if you do this.

At the end of the day, you need to try to get a balance of what your daughter likes studying along with a wide range of fairly academic subjects if you want her to have as wide a choice of careers and studies later in her teens.