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Deinonychus
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15 Feb 2007, 11:38 pm

This email to my psychologist explains the situation pretty well and there is no sense in writing it twice:

Quote:
Hey,
I'd like your advice on how I could talk to the school about problems I've been having with the language requirements. Even in high school with Latin and then French, I had incredible problems understanding and absorbing foreign languages. It doesn't show on my transcript (fortunately) but I have flunked out of both French 112 and Norwegian 111 classes. I dropped them when it was obvious I would never catch up. I had French in high school and still only tested into Beginning French 111. My French teacher in high school said that I was simply awful at it. There is a loop hole in the curriculum for people who have a lot of trouble with foreign language. You have to fail your first foreign language class while being tutored. My French 111 teacher was incredibly easy and curved every test up significantly (I could get 1/3 of the answers wrong and still get a B+ on a test). She was only here for the semester I took French from her. I got an A- in the class automatically disqualifying me from waving the language requirement. When I got to French 112 I just couldn't keep up with the class and failed but it was too late. I tried to switch to Norwegian because it is supposed to be really easy and I failed out of it as well. Now I am back in French 112 again and barely keeping up while having to let my other classes and my theater work slide. Even if I make it through 112, I have 231 and 232 to pass in order for me to graduate which, by all accounts, is incredibly difficult even for French majors.

On the other side of this is my significant amount of responsibility in the theater department. I am one of a very small number of student designers here. I am in extremely high demand here (I got 3 design position offers in 2 days near the beginning of this semester). I am also responsible for training the younger students much of the time. You can't really learn anything but the basics of design in a class. You can only get good at it by doing it. I get very little to no class credit for doing designs (they are worth a quarter of the credits of a normal class even though they take significantly more time than any class). As opening night approaches I often have to spend upwards of 70 hours a week on the design alone. I need to take these opportunities now while I'm in school because once I get into the professional world I won't have nearly as many and it is a much less safe environment to do them in.
If I can get my language requirements waived, I shouldn't have any problem graduating. All my other requirements are well in hand. Right now I am very worried about graduating unless I just stop doing theater all together which makes no sense considering I am a theater major. As things stand this semester there is no way I can pass all of my classes if I continue to take French. I'll either fail French or I'll fail all my other classes. I need to talk to the deans office but I have no idea what to say. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks,

Michael


Have any of you gotten accommodations in college for classes that you were having incredible difficulty with? How did you do it?


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shadexiii
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15 Feb 2007, 11:40 pm

Maybe I'm pulling this out of the air, or nowhere, or somewhere else, but does a programming language count as a "foreign" language? That might have been a rumor I heard, or something from when my parents were in college, or just bad memory, but on the off-chance it is true it might be worth checking out if you think you'd be better with something along those lines.



NeoPlatonist
Deinonychus
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15 Feb 2007, 11:46 pm

shadexiii wrote:
Maybe I'm pulling this out of the air, or nowhere, or somewhere else, but does a programming language count as a "foreign" language? That might have been a rumor I heard, or something from when my parents were in college, or just bad memory, but on the off-chance it is true it might be worth checking out if you think you'd be better with something along those lines.


It does make sense that it should be considered a language but it isn't here. Part of that is the school teaches foreign language in context of the culture of that language. (No, studying geek culture does not count as foreign culture. :? ) Also, I sucked at computer science pretty badly when I took it. It did cover my math requirement which is really good because I also suck at math.


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YowlingCat
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16 Feb 2007, 12:01 am

I'm fairly sure that if you are willing to go through testing, that a neuropsychological evaluation presented to the administration will get you off the hook. You'll need to be tested for auditory integration and auditory memory. Check with your counseling office to get references.



Last edited by YowlingCat on 16 Feb 2007, 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

NeoPlatonist
Deinonychus
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16 Feb 2007, 12:09 am

@YowlingCat: Good to know. I'll see if I can start that process.

The problem isn't my auditory memory; I have a very good skill for remembering sounds and music, I just can't reference it or put the sound with the idea. In other words the idea 'house' takes forever to find the sound of "la maison." My pronunciation is great which is a nice bonus but it won't help me pass the class.

It's weird but I can read French pretty well but I have a ton of difficulty going from English to French.


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Tufted Titmouse
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19 Feb 2007, 2:59 pm

What kind of accommodations can be made for math? I've been trying to get a bachelor's degree for 20 years and the required basic math and physics shoot me down every time. (no aptitude for abstraction IE: higher math) I'm on my 5th college now and still struggling . (BTW, I'm a 4.0 if I don't take any math in a semester so this is pretty frustrating).



YowlingCat
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19 Feb 2007, 5:22 pm

A neuropsychologist should be able to test you for dyscalculia. That should get you out of the requirement, and perhaps you could get some tradeoff in something that you're good at doing (?).