At Orange County School of the Arts, three languages are offered -- Spanish, French, and Mandarin. In both Spanish and French, regular Level 4 classes are offered that give students better accessibility to language education and achieving their academic goals through the Seal of Biliteracy on their diploma. However, there plan to offer Mandarin 4 for next school year is unsolidified and dependent on class size. Many students would like to continue their education in the language and earn their Seal, but will only be able to do so with Mandarin 4.

Mandarin 4 Honors is composed of majority fluent speakers and is not accessible for students just wanting to learn the language. It is a direct path to AP, which should not be something for our busy students to shoulder if they don't seek it out themselves. 

Because of the difficulty of Mandarin 4 Honors, in the past many students have dropped it and continued their education in the regular Mandarin 4 class. However, if this class gets taken away, students will lose their security blanket and be stuck in a class that is too difficult and damaging to their mental health. And if they end up dropping the class, they don't have any option to earn their Seal of Biliteracy!

OCSA is an amazing school that does a wonderful job listening to and providing opportunities for their student body. This petition is an opportunity to voice something our community needs. 

Sign the petition to help us reiterate the importance of Mandarin 4-- a necessity for Mandarin students here at OCSA-- even with a smaller class size.