Due to a recent law enacted by the Washington State legislature, 57 sophomores who take Spanish 3 and 22 sophomores who take French 3 are now unable to receive college credit for the class.

The law states that “Eleventh and twelfth grade students … may participate in the College in the High School program.”

“I feel like I wasted an entire year that I could have spent on something else,” sophomore Spanish 3 student Danielle Roy said. “If they don’t change [the law], eighth graders aren’t going to take that class, because they’re not going to get anything out of it.”

The law significantly impacts these students because if they can’t earn credit, they will be required to take the class again in college.

“I felt kind of cheated, because juniors are sitting in the same class as I am [and] they’re doing the exact same work that I am, yet they’re getting college credit and I’m not,” sophomore French 3 student Kaitlyn Dybing said.

In addition to students’ frustration regarding the new law, Spanish teacher Meghann Thompson is concerned about the effect of the law on Maywood’s language programs. Maywood’s Spanish and French programs are aimed at high achieving, committed students who want to put forth the extra effort that a language class requires. Most colleges require two years of world language upon entry, so students who take third year language classes tend to be those high achieving, committed students.

“What [will] end up happening if they don’t reverse the restriction is that it will end up killing the language program at our middle schools,” Thompson said.

Although sophomores in Spanish 3 have no option for earning any college credit, students taking French 3 as tenth graders can earn the credit if they take French 4 during their junior year. French teacher Sarah Duran plans to incorporate the University of Washington portion of French 3 into the beginning of the year so that students can earn the credit as juniors.