My dd's comments re: local public schooling...

[at the beach]

My dd 13 is heavy into extracurriculars, mainly dance but she takes music lessons, too. I asked her how the girls in her dance classes who dance as much as she does manage to stay on top of school work. The girls in her classes are from 7th-9th grade I'd say. She told me that they have said they never need to study and they still get A's on everything. She said her friends outside of dance report this, too. She also said these kids ARE in the honors classes.

 

I have a 21 yo dd, and she graduated from the local public school. She spent K-7th in a small Christian school. She took all honors track courses in high school and she also did AP's. She rarely studied and she also got all A's. Not saying she never did homework but it wasn't a daily thing, that's for sure. She got a highly competitive scholarship at a private university and she's in her third year there in a 0-6 Pharm.D. program, so it's not like her lack of effort in high school seriously hampered her. FWIW, she did not do stellar on every AP test. She got a 3 on the Chem AP. It was her only Chemistry class in high school. A 2 on AP Calc I think. She did get some 5's, however. Oh, and she only got a 2 in US History, which I pushed her to take and she told me she would not do well. BUT she did get A's in all the school classes. :001_huh:

 

My 13 yo spends a lot of time on her studies. We struggle to get everything done. She takes two online classes right now and then we do math, science, and language arts. Plus her dance, piano, and violin. I feel like we should be spending more time on academics and there is always stuff I want to do but can't get to with her--like art.

 

I'm trying to figure out what the deal is. Are they really not doing anything in school? Or should I say are they really covering EVERYTHING in school? Are the kids just trained to know what they need to know for tests? Surely, they can't be covering everything a kid needs to know in junior high and high school during the class, right? I know there are study halls, but still... And what about papers? I do recall my oldest doing papers but it wasn't like they were major projects until like 12th grade.

 

Also, our local public schools are rated "Excellent."

Edited March 13, 2010 by Violet

[Hen]

just speaking from my experience in High school, always in honors classes and I took AP U.S. History and A.P. English. The tests were almost always open book, so no need to really study. My AP history class used a College text we never finished, we did the questions after the chapter, open book tests and had discussion. My A.P. English was the most rigorous class I ever had, lots of writing everyday, still, not a whole lot of homework except reading and even that, sometimes I would not read all of it, skip to the ending. The writing was always in class, since we were working at being able to do the timed essay.

 

All other classes, except for math were a joke. Never even came close to finishing the texts, open book tests. One of my high school history classes we watched serials like Shogun. I was told in that class I'd get a B, if I wanted an A I had to write a report on a country...all on my own, no guidance or teaching in the class for it. I had this teacher twice, the first year I did the report, the next year I took the B.

[at the beach]

just speaking from my experience in High school, always in honors classes and I took AP U.S. History and A.P. English. The tests were almost always open book, so no need to really study. My AP history class used a College text we never finished, we did the questions after the chapter, open book tests and had discussion. My A.P. English was the most rigorous class I ever had, lots of writing everyday, still, not a whole lot of homework except reading and even that, sometimes I would not read all of it, skip to the ending. The writing was always in class, since we were working at being able to do the timed essay.

 

All other classes, except for math were a joke. Never even came close to finishing the texts, open book tests. One of my high school history classes we watched serials like Shogun. I was told in that class I'd get a B, if I wanted an A I had to write a report on a country...all on my own, no guidance or teaching in the class for it. I had this teacher twice, the first year I did the report, the next year I took the B.

 

Thanks for sharing, Hen Jen.

 

Anyone else have any thoughts on whether this is typical in our public junior high and high schools?

[Carrie12345]

Thanks for sharing, Hen Jen.

 

Anyone else have any thoughts on whether this is typical in our public junior high and high schools?

 

It was in my schools!

 

I had a few honors classes (no APs) and a pretty full schedule (I think I had one 'study hall' period in 4 years of high school, and I tutored ESL students in that time slot). I had after school jobs, babysat, was a Girl Scout AND ran my own troop of Brownies, tutored elementary students, taught Sunday School (hee hee), helped take care of my younger sisters, spent every spare second with my boyfriend and, in my senior year, helped him with his trade school classes.

 

I cut school all the time. Technically, I had to many absences to graduate, but I conned my teachers. I never did homework and never studied.

 

I did get one F in one marking period because I didn't like the English assignments, but I graduated with a 3.6, good SAT scores, and I was accepted into every college and business school I applied to, most with scholarships.

[angela in ohio]

I rarely studied and made great grades in my Honors classes. I ended up with excellent scores on my ACT and SAT. It wasn't that my education was lacking in PS, it was just that I could learn it easily.

 

I would say the same is true for your 21 yo if she is doing so well in her college classes. It could be the case for the dance girls, too.

 

There are PSs that are too easy, but you can't assume it without more information.

[at the beach]

I rarely studied and made great grades in my Honors classes. I ended up with excellent scores on my ACT and SAT. It wasn't that my education was lacking in PS, it was just that I could learn it easily.

 

I would say the same is true for your 21 yo if she is doing so well in her college classes. It could be the case for the dance girls, too.

 

There are PSs that are too easy, but you can't assume it without more information.

 

Agreed. Some kids get things very easily.

 

But I guess I am just thinking that some subjects, to truly master well, should involve something beyond just listening to a lecture in school for the most part.

 

I think this also goes to something else I've often thought about--that kids in very early grades in elementary school are seemingly often pushed beyond their developmental capabilities and are loaded with homework but that by junior high and high school, they don't have anywhere near the stress or workload. But I agree, as you are saying, it depends on the child.

[Mom0012]

My dd 13 is heavy into extracurriculars, mainly dance but she takes music lessons, too. I asked her how the girls in her dance classes who dance as much as she does manage to stay on top of school work. The girls in her classes are from 7th-9th grade I'd say. She told me that they have said they never need to study and they still get A's on everything. She said her friends outside of dance report this, too. She also said these kids ARE in the honors classes.

 

I have a 21 yo dd, and she graduated from the local public school. She spent K-7th in a small Christian school. She took all honors track courses in high school and she also did AP's. She rarely studied and she also got all A's. Not saying she never did homework but it wasn't a daily thing, that's for sure. She got a highly competitive scholarship at a private university and she's in her third year there in a 0-6 Pharm.D. program, so it's not like her lack of effort in high school seriously hampered her. FWIW, she did not do stellar on every AP test. She got a 3 on the Chem AP. It was her only Chemistry class in high school. A 2 on AP Calc I think. She did get some 5's, however. Oh, and she only got a 2 in US History, which I pushed her to take and she told me she would not do well. BUT she did get A's in all the school classes. :001_huh:

 

My 13 yo spends a lot of time on her studies. We struggle to get everything done. She takes two online classes right now and then we do math, science, and language arts. Plus her dance, piano, and violin. I feel like we should be spending more time on academics and there is always stuff I want to do but can't get to with her--like art.

 

I'm trying to figure out what the deal is. Are they really not doing anything in school? Or should I say are they really covering EVERYTHING in school? Are the kids just trained to know what they need to know for tests? Surely, they can't be covering everything a kid needs to know in junior high and high school during the class, right? I know there are study halls, but still... And what about papers? I do recall my oldest doing papers but it wasn't like they were major projects until like 12th grade.

 

Also, our local public schools are rated "Excellent."

 

This was my experience when I was in PS and as often as I hear people talk about so many different curriculum options not being rigorous enough on this board, I always wonder if things have changed that much. Recently, when I heard SL is not rigorous enough for the high school years, all I could think about is how little I read and how little effort I made in my high school english classes. The reading alone is SL is 10-fold what I did in HS. We are also in an area where the schools are very highly rated.

 

On the other hand, my stepddaughter graduated last year and I never saw her do much homework. Now, this is a child with severe lds, but up until the last 2 years of school, she often received mostly A's and B's as well.

 

Now she is in remedial math, reading and writing at the local CC.

 

Anyway, I think for the typical or above-average student, the classes just aren't that hard. I also think there is a lot of grade inflation going on.

 

Lisa

[Chris in VA]

Another small thing is that there is a whole classroom of kids to answer questions and contribute to discussions, so it's easy to tune out sometimes, and cram for the tests. Homeschooled kids, however, often are the only ones answering and discussing, so it's more obvious if they know the material or not--assessment comes more naturally, and perhaps some of us use that assessment to tailor the curriculum to be more or less challenging. This can equal more or less rigor, but it's definitely easier to adjust to the level of the child.

 

Also, it seems to me my son in ps high school gets a lot more projects--group projects, mostly--than papers. He is trying and does his homework, but he can get a lot done in school, and he also has a period a few times a week where he serves as an office runner. He took Gov't over the summer, so he has a lighter schedule this year, which has been a blessing.

 

It can go either way--I've seen some kids who really work hard, and have little time off, and I've seen some who get most of their work done in school and can memorize enough info the night before the test to do well. IDK--it's quite variable. The group your dd is in seems to be pretty good at figuring and working the system, and just may be a group of quick learners. Hard to say...

[Haiku]

I graduated 6th in a class of 425 with a GPA of 3.98.

 

I did homework and wrote papers.

 

I did not "study."

 

I have forgotten a great deal of what I learned.

 

It was "memorize and dump."

 

The same strategy worked pretty well for me in college, from which I graduated summa cum laude.

 

I am sorry I wasn't made to work harder.

 

Tara

[TXMary2]

I believe it is grade inflation in the form of dumbing down curriculum. I have said it before and I will say it again.......when I was in school only about 20% of students made the Honor Roll and we had to work hard for it. Today, about 80% of the kids make the Honor Roll. Hmmmmm. I know several local PS kids who are "straight A's" and I am amazed at what they don't know. I find it really sad. Even though I am a christian that doesn't support the humanistic viewpoint PS teaches from, the number one reason I pulled my kids out was academics. I felt they were being shortchanged and insulted with the work they were given. My oldest was in 9th, in Pre-AP classes, one of which didn't even have a textbook for the students.

[MomtoCandJ]

When I was in school I had about 2 hour bus ride every morning and afternoon for jr high and high school. I did most of my homework on those long bus rides, I would actually not do some the night before just so I would have something to do on the bus (usually reading) and that was when I actually had homework, I remember a few papers but most of them were done during class and some worksheets for history, government and economics did those on the bus along with whatever book had to be read for English

[FaithManor]

Its sad, but A.P. actually means (not remedial) around here. Parents have complained for a long time that there isn't anything available for the children who are ready to be challenged.

 

DD18's friend graduated from our local public school. She had a 3.83 grade point average and a 30 on the A.C.T. She is a VERY bright young lady and we were always shocked that she had so little to do in her classes. She was always amazed at how much work we required of DD. When friend was taking advanced (2nd year) chemistry, my DD had to tutor her. The teacher had never taken chemistry in high school or college and couldn't do a bit of the math. She was certified in science but the classes she took in college were biology, anatomy & physiology, microbiology, earth science, physical science, zoology, botany, etc. She tried VERY hard to stay away from math based sciences. Because of her certification, she could however, teach anything in the science department. So, DD taught friend, and friend went back and lectured in the class. NO JOKE! A student did the teaching! This was supposed to be advanced chemistry but the class never made it even half-way through the concepts that DD had in her first year Apologia Chemistry book. Yet, everyone who received a D- or better, received credit for A.P. advanced chemistry! (I have gargantuan issues with awarding high school credit when most of our area schools are lucky if they make it even half-way through a text. In many cases, 10-12 chapters is the most. Several Algebra 2 classes at our local high did not make it more than 4 chapters past the algebra 1 review portion. ARGH! It's legalized lying!)

 

Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common in our area. I don't think for one minute that it is all an incompetancy thing. Most of the teachers I've met are fine people with great brains. If they needed to teach new material, they would take the time learn it well so they could teach it. But, our school districts do not want anything done in class except practice for the tests. The teachers have been instructed to drill, drill, drill vocabulary and give multiple choice quizzes everyday. Nothing more. The only writing to be done is in English and only for kids that attend the "advanced comp class" which is what you are supposed to take if you want to take the ACT writing portion. So, the only writing they do is rudimentary rubric graded, timed essays. I have seen some of the absolute worse essays for content and grammar that you can possibly imagine - from DD's friends - but they have A's at the top because it was completed in the time alotted and met the requirements of the rubric. Given that the average time spent grading the A.C.T. essay (according to the proctors I've spoken with) is 6-10 minutes per essay, there will be many who get high writing scores that will be unable to then reproduce a good piece of writing for their college English professors. I can very quickly write an essay that satisfies a simple "rubric" but that doesn't mean the essay is even worth reading!

 

DD is in paramedic school through a college accredited medical program at a large teaching hospital near here. She does not actually attend at the university, but she can transfer those credits to any university. She has class 20 hours per week and practicums 15-20 hours per week plus she can take more than the required ambulance and ER shifts. She does this routinely because she LOVES the work. The ER docs, medical director, and advanced paramedics who teach the classes push VERY hard. DD is thriving and maintains not just the top scores in the classes but the highest scores, according to the medical director, that have been given in the last decade. I am so proud of her. But, she really does not have to study as hard as one might think. She seems to be very prepared for this level of teaching. WHEW! Breathe deep! We did okay.

 

On the other hand, DD's college friends are just mired in work and study. They seem stressed and unable to manage the load. Many have dropped from 15-17 credit hours per semester to 12 or less. Friend above is still maintaining a 4.0 but she complains to us all the time that she doesn't understand how our DD can take biology, A & P, and pharmacology exams with only small amounts of studying and get A's, especially when these are the same classes that the pre-med and nursing students are taking. I feel bad for friend, she's a great girl and she shouldn't be overwhelmed. But, high school did not prepare her for the rigorousness of college. Thankfully, she has a good work ethic taught by conscientious parents, so she won't drop out.

 

This seems to hold through as well for non-college disciplines. Our county building inspectors have been reporting a HUGE rise in the number of students failing their contracting and electrical journeymen classes - same for auto-mechanics classes. So, I think that there is some definite "under preparing" going on around here....although, there is certainly a good percentage that just simply don't have a good work ethic and do too much goofing off!

 

I shudder to think how little is going on in the non-A.P. classes.

 

Homeschoolers alway worry about getting "everything" done. We want all the best in academics plus music, art, drama, travel experiences, volunteerism, athletics, etc. But, its really an impossible goal. We simply can't do everything. But, we can encourage our children's naturl talents. If your daughter adores dance and music then don't worry about art. She doesn't need it specifically and you aren't hurting her by not addressing that area of the humanities. I would just make sure she is being challenged in her work and learning a great work ethic. With DD, we let her have the extra-curriculars so long as she met our deadlines for completion of work. If she got swamped, we'd cancel piano lessons for a week or two, or call the church and say she needed a sub for the class she was teaching or wouldn't be able to do special music that week, etc.

 

Chances are, the fact that you really worry about it means you are doing a good job. Its been my experience that the homeschoolers who never gave it another thought were the ones that went too light on the academic work load and ended up with under-prepared kids. I have a friend who is homeschooling and I am concerned about her kids. The 8th grader is never given more work than what would take an hour per day to complete because she thinks free-time is more important. If this continues through high school, I don't know how the kids would ever manage a vocational licensing class or college class much less be employable.

 

Faith

[Brooketopia]

I always found the AP and Honors classes easier, actually. The teachers had an inflated sense of our maturity because we chose to take harder classes, so they didn't make us do as much busy work. We read a tiny bit more, like an extra novel per semester; but other than that, there wasn't much difference--just a dramatic difference in work expected.

 

In college it was about the same, but some Honors classes were atrociously hard.

[Perry]

Before my kids went back to ps, I was led to believe that all you need is a pulse to get an A.

 

That has not been our experience. My dd is very bright, but she isn't getting As. It is entirely due to lack of effort. But As are not just handed out on a platter here.

 

I think the parents of the non-A students just aren't quite so vocal about their kids grades.

[Jeannie in NJ]

my dd is in her first year (9th grade) at our county technical high school. This school is well known for its hard academics, only about 30% of applicates get into this school. Dd is in one honors (geometry) and the rest college prep and she has to work hard to get a's and b's. Only about 20% of the students get on the honor roll compared to our local high school where 80% get on the honor roll. So each school is different. I have no idea what makes some schools decide to challenge the students and other schools do not. We have another high school in our area which has been on the failure list for the last few years. Many of the parents that live in that area try hard to get their kids into the technical high school or into private Christian schools .

[Wildiris]

FaithManor~What an amazing, insightful post about grades and AP classes. Instilling a solid work ethic makes a difference not just in school but life. I find teens, home schooled or in public school, naturally try to do the least amount of work possible not because they're lazy but because their minds are elsewhere. Reaching the teen mind and turning it on to learning and inspiring it to work hard is the challenge.

[LibraryLover]

What I notice is that the really bright kids who get As, and do well on the SATs, AP tests etc are also the ones heavily involved with sports or extras. These kids seem to know how to manage their time well. My teen son is highly involved with music. Dh & I are in the parent support program to help with various projects and surpervision, performance prep etc., and we often see kids doing school work n the bus, and at practices at the school during lulls. I know our son has quite a bit of homework. Sometimes I feel sorry for those kids--they are working so hard. I don't think I could get nearly as much done as they do. lol To be young.

 

I think some kids can get by without studying a lot, but here you cannot get As if you don't do homework or papers. My oldest (Dean's list Jr in a top tier college) was also an excellent public high school student who tests well; he didn't have to study much. He remembers everything easily. However, he had many papers and projects in his AP classes. There was no way to get an A in those classes without a solid body of paper work. My hs'd dd is taking chemistry at this same high school, and she has quite a bit of homework.

 

Maybe there is a really good reason kids in MA need nearly perfect SAT scores to qualify for National Merit ranking. It does seem MA is more demanding than some other states.

Edited March 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Stacy in NJ]

It really, really depends on your local school system. All public school systems are not equal. Here in NJ, some of the suburban schools test at 99% proficient in all subject areas; many of the graduates attend ivy or near ivy schools. Those kids taking IB, AP or honors class usually need to work quite hard to earn good grades. Other districts perform really poorly, although they may offer AP or honors courses, the quality of the classes are less than advertised.

 

Are your local schools of the best quality?

[LibraryLover]

I think NJ is very much like MA in this reguard.

 

 

It really, really depends on your local school system. All public school systems are not equal. Here in NJ, some of the suburban schools test at 99% proficient in all subject areas; many of the graduates attend ivy or near ivy schools. Those kids taking IB, AP or honors class usually need to work quite hard to earn good grades. Other districts perform really poorly, although they may offer AP or honors courses, the quality of the classes are less than advertised.

 

Are your local schools of the best quality?

Edited March 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[jujsky]

My experience is very different from most posters here! I worked very hard in high school, had homework in almost every subject every night, and I WASN'T a straight A student. I was honor roll, but not straight A's, and I worked my butt off to make it. I was in tons of extra curricular activities that ate up a lot of my time, and I made sure that I worked a study hall into my schedule every year because otherwise I would never get all my homework done. BTW, I went to a public high school, but at the time it was one of the best ones in our state.

 

I will say that when I went to college that I was much better prepared than many people in my college class. I think about a quarter of the students dropped out by the end of my freshman year. Many of them didn't know how to write, and were completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of homework. Most of my freshman and sophomore classes were really a waste of my time -- I had already covered all of it in high school. In many ways, I found college EASIER than high school.

[LibraryLover]

Maybe it's a cold northeast state thing. ;)

 

My experience is very different from most posters here! I worked very hard in high school, had homework in almost every subject every night, and I WASN'T a straight A student. I was honor roll, but not straight A's, and I worked my butt off to make it. I was in tons of extra curricular activities that ate up a lot of my time, and I made sure that I worked a study hall into my schedule every year because otherwise I would never get all my homework done.

 

I will say that when I went to college that I was much better prepared than many people in my college class. I think about a quarter of the students dropped out by the end of my freshman year. Many of them didn't know how to write, and were completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of homework. Most of my freshman and sophomore classes were really a waste of my time -- I had already covered all of it in high school. In many ways, I found college EASIER than high school.

[myfunnybunch]

Anyone else have any thoughts on whether this is typical in our public junior high and high schools?

 

Our experience, and the experience of other parents of high school students we know in our school district, has been the opposite, at least at the high school level. My oldest, both at our neighborhood school and at the charter school to which she transferred, had/has a lot of homework every night. Rigorous work, especially at her new school, though she had an hour or so of homework almost every night in regular high school classes. Other parents have told me that their children have had to drop out of their extra-curricular activities, or choose only one, because otherwise they don't have time for homework and a family life.

 

Now that I think of it, though, my daughter and most of the high school students that I know attend charter or International schools (in our district, the International programs are rigorous college prep programs with a foreign language emphasis which are housed in the regular high school), or take Honors classes in most subjects. So it seems that my "sample" is skewed toward motivated students enrolled in rigorous programs.

 

When I was in high school I rarely had homework, but that had more to do with my ability to think and work quickly and use my time wisely than with the amount of work assigned.

 

Cat

[LibraryLover]

I know a young woman currently in medical school who was in MA public schools all of her life, all AP in high school, and involved in ballet to a degree her mother thought she might go to college to major in dance. She got 5s on 5 AP tests (World History, Chemistry, Biology, English, French). If anything, these kids are pushed beyond reason. Of course, if a doctor is working on me, I absolutely want her to be driven and be at the top of her class. ;)

[at the beach]

It really, really depends on your local school system. All public school systems are not equal. Here in NJ, some of the suburban schools test at 99% proficient in all subject areas; many of the graduates attend ivy or near ivy schools. Those kids taking IB, AP or honors class usually need to work quite hard to earn good grades. Other districts perform really poorly, although they may offer AP or honors courses, the quality of the classes are less than advertised.

 

Are your local schools of the best quality?

 

I do agree all publics aren't equal. I am no longer aware of the proficiency levels but I'm going to look into that. Our local schools are highly rated and I would say of the best quality around my area. There are kids getting into top tier liberal arts colleges and some kids do get accepted to schools like Cornell, for example. I know when my dd graduated no one was accepted to MIT, for example, and a few kids had applied that I recall. But it is not what I would say is a COMMON thing for kids to get into Ivy schools. I'm in a large district, too. Over 10,000 kids for our suburban community. The high school a few years back approached 3,000 kids, all in one building. I know enrollment has been declining. My dd thought the school had prepared her very well when she started college compared to her peers, many of whom struggled a lot with the science courses.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I know a young woman currently in medical school who was in MA public schools all of her life, all AP in high school, and involved in ballet to a degree her mother thought she might go to college to major in dance. She got 5s on 5 AP tests (World History, Chemistry, Biology, English, French). If anything, these kids are pushed beyond reason. Of course, if a doctor is working on me, I absolutely want her to be driven and be at the top of her class. ;)

 

I think that some may not necessarily be pushed at all, and may, in fact, in many instances drag their parents along kicking and screaming;)

 

I do think there is value in homework in highschool that teaches students how to read, do research, write, and compute in preparation for college:) My dh was not challenged at all in highschool and had a big wake up call in college. I wonder how many kids do not make through college as a result:(

[LibraryLover]

I agree. She is wonderfully healthy, emotionally, as well. Some people are naturally driven.

 

My own oldest is also driven. And doesn't need much sleep, apparently. ;) He has done more in college than I thought possible. His grades are excellent, and while his major is not theater or music, he is highly involved with both on campus. I am astounded by what he crams into a day.

 

I think that some may not necessarily be pushed at all, and may, in fact, in many instances drag their parents along kicking and screaming;)

 

I do think there is value in homework in highschool that teaches students how to read, do research, write, and compute in preparation for college:) My dh was not challenged at all in highschool and had a big wake up call in college. I wonder how many kids do not make through college as a result:(

Edited March 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Journey]

My daughter is in 9th grade in PS. She is not an A student but she studies very, very, VERY hard (I said 'very' three times because I want to stress how hard this child studies). She wants so badly to be an A student but it doesn't come easy. She is on honor roll but she works for it. She has not ever had an open book test in the PS and she gets homework every single night and during school breaks too which I think is just not right. Maybe this PS is different from the ones you guys know about but please don't lump all PS's in the same category. Yes, I think the dumbing down of our kids is happening but I believe it's for the kids who really don't have a darn. I do have to say that learning not coming easily to my daughter has taught her so much responsibililty and for that I am thankful.

[Pamela H in Texas]

The high school I work in is well rated also. But...

 

This is just what I've seen. I have NO doubt that there are classrooms that this is not the case, but this is what I've seen in A LOT of classrooms.

 

* Little work is graded at all and what work is graded is usually about completion. The kids either do it half way or refuse to to it at all since it doesn't matter.

 

* Many teachers will give a student a 70 for showing up. A 70 here is a C (which I totally don't get). In some classes, everyone gets a 100 for most assignments/tests.

 

* Most tests are open books or open notes. Many times, the notes are notes the TEACHER passed out! So why study?

 

* Books are read aloud in class. Chapter reviews are done in class, taking several days.

 

I described my son's high school core as a bit weak (though we do supplement) and I think that is true; but he has some learning issues and a developmental disability! However, almost all of public high school in an excellent suburban district is also quite weak from what I can tell.

 

To make it worse....I heard two teachers in the faculty room. One said he had 5 AP students going to take the test. The other said she had ONE that would take the AP test. They didn't figure the others could pass it. JMO, but the EXPECTATION of AP courses should be that every student (except for a rare extenuating circumstance) should be expected to take and have a good chance of passing the AP test at the end of the course!

 

I really think the standards and expectations have lowered to an almost unbelievable degree! I really worry about the message that these low expectations send to average and bright students.

Edited March 13, 2010 by 2J5M9K