Black High School Students Are Increasingly Taking Advanced Level Courses in Foreign Languages

The vast majority of all high school students take the minimum requirements for foreign language study but few go on to advanced level study. But many of the nation’s leading colleges and universities prefer that applicants have three or four years of foreign language study.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education finds that blacks are making progress in increasing their presence in advanced level courses in foreign languages. In 1982 less than 3 percent of all black students were taking an advanced course in a foreign language. By 2004 this percentage had increased to 7.5 percent.

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