It has recently come to my and my fellow classmates’ attention that a French 5/5AP class will not be offered. Seventeen of us have been disappointed by this news, and in an attempt to keep the course standing for the 2007-2008 school year, we have pleaded, prodded, poked, and petitioned the language department, Mr. Merritt, Mr. Laurence, and the district office for the class.

Our parents even called the issue to the spotlight in Site Council, who debated on May 21st whether or not the class would receive the necessary funding for next year. Currently, their decision is pending. For it to be such an issue, they apparently do not see the importance of French 5/5AP in our eyes, in our teacher’s eyes, in our future high school students’ eyes.

That we seventeen decided to enroll in the class, after years of French, many beginning in middle school, even though most of us are seniors, shows that we are dedicated students, and we all hope to pursue French in our future. How will we do this, with a one-year hiatus between junior year and college? It is statistically proven that students who stop practicing their language for even a year begin to forget it, and forgetting it at such a critical age – when we learn the fastest – would place us at a disadvantage in our future.

French 5/5AP is the culmination of years of diligence studying French grammar, vocabulary, and writing, and we are finally able to read, interpret, and analyze French literature. Should we be deprived of this opportunity to do so in our last year of high school?

In such a competitive environment, at Paly, in Palo Alto, and around the nation, taking four years of language is essential for us students who aspire to be the best possible. The lack of a fourth year of French could be a turnoff for college admission officers, who are looking for ways to distinguish among all of the outstanding applicants there are.

Younger students, realizing that Paly is not committed to offering the highest level of French, unfortunately taking into consideration the college-acceptance factor, would thus choose to avoid a path that might lead them to a dead-end. Gradually, French would cease to be a course offered at all levels, especially if the district continued to discontinue them as they seem to have decided for French 5/5AP. How can Paly, with such an upstanding reputation in California, do this? By not offering French Literature, it is hurting its own rank and reputation.

Paly cannot do that to itself; it cannot do this to its students. A lack of enrollment by only three students (it is required for a class to have at least twenty students enrolled to be considered to be funded) cannot be a deciding factor for whether or not French 5/5AP continues. The other seventeen students should not have what they enjoy taken from them simply because of a missing three. Also, there are plenty of courses at Paly now that have even fewer than seventeen students. Not only is it unreasonable to not offer French Literature because there are more students than in some classes this year, but it is also harmful for Paly itself.

What a pity that we are so close; Paly cannot turn its back on us now.