Last fall, I took the first step in achieving a goal of mine: to be semi-fluent in French. It was not required for my major; I was doing it simply for pleasure. I had taken two years of honors French in high school, gaining entry into the French Honor Society, and almost becoming its president. However, high school French for me was 10 years ago. But my passion was still there, so I enrolled in FREN101, assuming I’d have a great refresher course after 10 years. But I was wrong. I walked into my first class giddy with excitement, and was immediately handed a contract to sign saying I will not speak any English or risk losing points. The teacher explained that we would not be reviewing or learning conjugations. We just jumped right into it like we moved to France on a whim. I lasted exactly four weeks before my decade-old abilities were unable to keep me afloat. I now have a new major, one that requires me to take two foreign languages. I propose this question to the university: How dare you label any course an introduction if in reality you’re expected to be more advanced and have enough knowledge to be thrown right in? And on top of that, you force people to take it. It is unfair to those of us who truly wish to learn to not be given the opportunity to do so. There are remedial classes for English and math. Why are there none for foreign languages? Most people cannot learn to swim by being thrown off the boat in the middle of the ocean, so why presume we can all learn an academic subject the same way? Either change your definition of an intro course, or offer remedial classes to create solid foundations to build upon.