[red_fox]

Hi,

We are going to be moving to LV this summer. I am looking for a school for my 7th grader that will offer extensive language curriculum in addition to solid math/schience curriculum. My daughter went to a Bay Area bilingual school thus far, speaks native French and is asking to start taking Mandarin and Spanish. Any recommendations? I prefer a private school, but am also curious if there are public schools that may offer those options.

Thank you.

[observer53]

You might find Spanish at the junior high level, but I would guess that Mandarin is not offered at that stage, or even at the high school level, in public schools.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by observer53

You might find Spanish at the junior high level, but I would guess that Mandarin is not offered at that stage, or even at the high school level, in public schools.

Sure they are. Not in NEVADA'S public schools. But there are towns in New Jersey, Maryland and California that offer Mandarin in elementary school.

Meadows School is probably the only option. And I don't think they offer Mandarin. OP will have to find a tutor. But that won't be hard because we have a good-sized Chinese population here. (Not like the Bay Area, but still plenty of native Chinese speakers. My mother-in-law, for instance.)

Red_Fox, you are going to be very, very, very disappointed in our school system.

[LVPoker1]

Red_Fox, you are going to be very, very, very disappointed in our school system.

There are good schools in some higher end areas, but it seems OP has his expectations quite high. I don't believe foreign language is even offered until 8th and then it is Spanish only. OP will be sending their kids to private school to get what they are looking for.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by LVPoker1

There are good schools in some higher end areas, but it seems OP has his expectations quite high. I don't believe foreign language is even offered until 8th and then it is Spanish only. OP will be sending their kids to private school to get what they are looking for.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, there are public schools in New England, New York, California and New Jersey that have better academic benchmarks than the private schools here in Nevada.

Based on OP's line of questions, I'm guessing he or she would like to see his daughter go to CalTech or MIT. Going to high school in Nevada is going to make that considerably more difficult.

If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and send my child to a prep school somewhere out of state. (Or rethink my decision to move here.)

[observer53]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Sure they are. Not in NEVADA'S public schools. But there are towns in New Jersey, Maryland and California that offer Mandarin in elementary school.

I was referring only to Las Vegas, not schools anywhere in the country.

[MomMom]

I have a kid in high school now, a foreign language is a requirement in high school only. You have to have passed two years of the chosen language (French, Spanish, Japanese or German) in order to get your diploma.

There are no bilingual schools here in Las Vegas that I know of and Mandarin is not in the CCSD curriculum at all.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by MomMom

A foreign language is a requirement in high school only. You have to have passed two years of the chosen language (French, Spanish, Japanese or German) in order to get your diploma.

There are no bilingual schools here in Las Vegas that I know of and Mandarin is not in the CCSD curriculum at all.

I have a feeling OP is looking for something above and beyond what CCSD offers. I have a feeling OP is looking for something above and beyond what Meadows School offers.

Two years of foreign language study is basically useless. What's a kid going to do in life with two years of German? The world (particularly the business world and the scientific world) is looking for multilingual people. Japanese was the big thing during my generation. But Mandarin is shaping up to be the lingua franca for the next century.

[MomMom]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

I have a feeling OP is looking for something above and beyond what CCSD offers. I have a feeling OP is looking for something above and beyond what Meadows School offers.

Two years of foreign language study is basically useless. What's a kid going to do in life with two years of German? The world (particularly the business world and the scientific world) is looking for multilingual people. Japanese was the big thing during my generation. But Mandarin is shaping up to be the lingua franca for the next century.

And in Las Vegas, Spanish is the second language, lol

Hey, the OP asked the question and we answered, more research is up to them, Scoop.

I feel the OP wants to move to LV for various other reasons other than just the specific intent of getting their children the most spectacular education.

People move here no matter what, you know that. And whether the schools are good, bad or indifferent it doesn't matter to them and I wouldn't bother trying to talk them into not moving here. Most people don't move to Vegas because of the school district.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by MomMom

And in Las Vegas, Spanish is the second language, lol

Hey, the OP asked the question and we answered, more research is up to them, Scoop.

I feel the OP wants to move to LV for various other reasons other than just the specific intent of getting their children the most spectacular education.

People move here no matter what, you know that. And whether the schools are good, bad or indifferent it doesn't matter to them and I wouldn't bother trying to talk them into not moving here. Most people don't move to Vegas because of the school district.

I'm not trying to talk people out of moving here. I think my posting history bears that out. We need every warm body we can get, provided they're working or retired and thus contributing to the economy instead of wicking money away from it.

But I'm not going to be an apologist for CCSD. The school system sucks. There are a lot of bad teachers. (Bad in that they don't know their subject material. Math teachers who have problems with fractions, for instance.) There is a staggeringly high dropout rate -- which has more to do with the students and the parents, but still. This is not a healthy educational environment. And I'm of the opinion that anyone who says otherwise has never experienced a good school system.

Las Vegas has a lot going for it. But not its schools.