As a consequence, when forced to follow the subject across the board, there is a tremendous negativity from the 'consumers'.
When not forced to undertake a language, so many 'vote with their feet'.
This situation is difficult to remedy as the nation needs many more of our young people to be able to handle more than just their own tongue.
It is perhaps compounded because those pupils from lower sets may be being asked to attempt something which I personally consider to be unreasonable and can truly make their lives a misery - however much the pill is sugar-coated.
One possible solution would be to return to the system abandoned around the time that I was finishing my own school education.
Put simply, no would-be student should be allowed into university without at least one GCSE in a foreign language.
This would mean that there would be pressure on all potential university entrants to succeed in a language. The subject(s) would then be on a par with Maths and English and a desire to succeed in them made necessary.
Currently pupils recognise the essential nature of studying maths which so many consider to be a most difficult discipline. The added advantage to this ploy would be that students who know that they would not be university bound would not feel the need or obligation to do the subject and there is consequently a natural filtering by ability and/or interest in the subject itself.
