Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamlet53
Everyone speaks and understands English and doesn't get affronted that that's my only language.
|
I don't know if this is still the case, but when I was in high school, English (and Dutch, obviously) were obligatory languages, and you had to pass the final high school exam with at least a 6.0 out of 10, or you'll fail the entire exam. The languages consisted of speaking, writing, and listening exams, with none of the parts being lower than 5.0. And, if you had a 5.0 for one part, another part had to be at least 7.0.
Other subjects (math, other languages, biology, etc...) could be compensated: If you obtained a 5.0 for one subject, math, for example, you could compensate by obtaining a 7.0 somewhere else, in history or so. You could compensate up to two points, where a 4.0 would require an extra point of compensation:
Two 5.0 -> Two 7.0 or one 8.0
One 4.0 ->
three 7.0 or one 8.0 and one 7.0. (A single 9.0 was not sufficient.)
Score a 3.x, or a 5.x (parts average) for Dutch or English, and it would be over instantly.
So yeah, everybody in my generation *HAD* to speak Dutch and English sufficiently to obtain even a high school diploma.