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Parents Forum
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<p>Stuyvesant grad requirements</p>

<p>[Stuyvesant</a> High School](<a href=“http://stuy.enschool.org/academics/grad_require.jsp]Stuyvesant”>http://stuy.enschool.org/academics/grad_require.jsp)</p>

<p>the math sequence has changed from math “A” it is now back to algebra, geometry, Al2/trig.</p>

<p>The reason that physics is “required” is because this is the sequence that the school programs its students for. However, if the student only took, living environment, chem and elective science, they have met the city’s and the state’s science requirement (one life science, one physical science and a 3rd science). If the student passed the regents in chem and living environment and met all of the other requirements for an advanced regents diploma, they would still receive an advanced regents diploma without taking physics.</p>

<p>Some schools, the science sequence is living environment, earth science, chem and physics. THe state and city science requirement is 1 year life sciences (living environment) one year of physical science (earth science, chem, physics, environmental) the 3rd science can basically be anything (those listed, marine bio, forensics, zoology, etc). In fact a school can choose to teach a regents based science over the course of 2 years- for example living environment 1, 2, 3, 4. this woud be 2 science classes (life science and the 3rd science). the student would just have to take physical science to fulfill the city/state science requirement for graduation.</p>

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<p>This may be due mainly to the preference differences between students at the high school you cited and mine. </p>

<p>The number of students taking 1 AP in senior year after taking its non-AP equivalent in earlier years was very tiny in comparison to those who subbed the AP from 9th grade onwards or those who didn’t take AP period due to preference or not being eligible.</p>

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<p>Everyone was allowed to attend graduation ceremonies…including those who were going to be held back. </p>

<p>Also, there were very few classmates who opted for the lower diplomas for two reasons. </p>

<p>First, if there were any indications students were going to fall short of Stuy graduation requirements within the first two years, the homeroom teacher, deans, and sometimes the principal will “encourage” the student to consider transferring back to their zoned high school. However, the choice was left up to each individual student. In my entering freshman class, around 28% of us ended up heeding that encouragement. I myself was counseled multiple times during my freshman/sophomore year…but was too stubborn to listen and opted to stick it out to the end. </p>

<p>Second, there was widespread fear, however unwarranted it may be, that opting for a non-Specialized HS diploma would be a serious strike against us regarding college admissions like going from AP to non-AP to students at many high schools. </p>

<p>Moreover, being held back didn’t seem to hurt students much in this regard. Some classmates held back still ended up going to elite colleges…including one hardcore STEM classmate who took an extra year because he failed to complete his English requirements…including a 20 page English senior thesis because he felt that field was “a waste of time”. Ended up graduating from Cornell A & S as a bio pre-med and ended up becoming an MD.</p>

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<p>"This may be due mainly to the preference differences between students at the high school you cited and mine. </p>

<p>The number of students taking 1 AP in senior year after taking its non-AP equivalent in earlier years was very tiny in comparison to those who subbed the AP from 9th grade onwards or those who didn’t take AP period due to preference or not being eligible."</p>

<p>Pre-AP classes are not the equivalent to AP classes. They really are a PRE class. Sort of like Introduction to Chemistry, as opposed to Chemistry I. At least at our school, it’s not a matter of preference. It’s just the way it’s set up. No one really questions it. In general freshmen don’t take AP classes, and sophomores usually take 1, then junior year, almost all to all academics are AP (if so chosen), and senior year - usually all (if so chosen). It’s just the way the advanced track is structured.</p>

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<p>Then you must have taken being at Stuyvesant way to seriously. I was wanted to go to HS with my friends, who did not go to the big 3 and my parents made me attend the specialized HS because I got in (everyone from 8th grade SP classes had to apply to one of the schools and I was just hanging out with my friends to take the test).</p>

<p>I knew people who left Stuyvesant at the end of Junior year, went to their local high school, graduated a semester early, by taking E7/E8 H7/H8 and gym the first half of senior year (my sister in law and her friends all did this). It did not deter them from attending selective colleges because they already had good grades and were feed up with people lamenting over the fact that they received a 96 in a class. I had friends at Bx Science and Bklyn tech who also did the same thing and it did not affect them.</p>

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<p>That wasn’t my reason for staying at Stuy. My reasons were mainly motivated by the following:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My zoned high school was a crime-ridden hellhole as shown by several older neighborhood kids who had multiple stitches from being knifed in school and who all emphatically warned me and other remotely academically inclined kids to avoid it like the plague. No way was I going back there despite having been forced into dozens of middle school fights and actually winning the last few despite being less than 5’ tall back then and among the youngest kids in my grade. Incidentally, said zoned HS closed down recently due to abysmal graduation/academic performance. </p></li>
<li><p>Being in the midst of an adolescent/teenage adolescent phase(13-15), my mindset was if the teachers and deans were counseling me to leave…this institution is some sort of forbidden fruit that TPTB didn’t want me to fully experience. Since they didn’t want me there, the longer I remain at Stuy…the more I can stick it to them by remaining there and embracing the experience. In short, my remaining there was motivated by emotions referenced in Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take it. :smiley: </p></li>
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<p>My middle school didn’t mandate anyone to apply to the SHS. Then again, from what I’ve heard from other Stuy and NYC public school alums…my middle school was unusual in allowing anyone who wanted to take the SHS exam to do so…SP student or not. Good thing as I wasn’t an SP student in middle school. </p>

<p>Heard other middle schools restricted SHS exam registration to SP students.</p>

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<p>Regarding the ubiquitous AP…our magnet school (a decent one, but stats not much different from SteveMAs, which in themselves are miraculous ;)) used to insist on it’s own honors interdisciplinary program until one particular administration caved to what I felt was misguided AP pressure from selected parents and a new superintendent.</p>

<p>I fought against it for a variety of reasons, the least of which was at the time the performance of the students spoke for itself, and that by “splitting” the curriculum at a very small program that was supposed to be GT and that was already strapped in terms of funding was going to gut the interdisciplinary nature of the courses if only due to scheduling alone. (which, I might say, is what happened.) </p>

<p>In a private conversation the principal confessed it was “the only way” to discipline/monitor/in-service the teachers and prepare them one day to deliver IB, and that while there existed a core of excellent teachers, it was not uniform, and many of those extraordinary teachers were set to retire.</p>

<p>Sadly, due to I believe district politics, union bumping rights, and other misguided shenanigans, we’d gotten to the place where such a reputable and state-leading school was at the mercy of the district’s misguided notion about how to monitor and manage it’s staff.</p>

<p>That conversation makes me wonder how many schools use APs to have “measurable results” in terms of teaching rigor and a pre-set course plan.</p>

<p>I notice the school’s rank in it’s statewide performance has dropped to third - in fairness, still respectable performance considering all the curricular disruption - and I’m certain it’s still a great option for many in an otherwise underperforming district, but it’s sad that a unique curricular approach that worked so well for so long was sacrificed to, from what I can gather, save the money and work of managing a staff.</p>

<p>I wonder if we just outlawed AP entirely if we might not see the overall quality of the classroom return. AP seems to me like an elaborate streaming scheme. If you need to stream, then just stream :wink: Don’t pretend that half the kids are working at college level. They’re not. </p>

<p>And re physics, while it <em>should</em> be a requirement, I wonder if it isn’t because most kids leave high school without sufficient math prowess to actually competently study physics. My son always felt sorry for his physics teacher, because due to scheduling, kids in the class often hadn’t had Calc, and ergo, were frequently lost. I had made my son wait until senior year to take it for this reason, despite pressure for him to take it the year before. I don’t know why this pairing is rocket science, so to speak ;)</p>

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<p>I was a very high-achieving math student who aced four semesters of college calculus as well as every science I took – except for physics. I absolutely could not comprehend physics no matter how hard I studied.</p>

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<p>Do you think?? LOL. Really, it’s a high school. Why is it any more or less important than any of the other 30,000 high schools in this country?</p>

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<p>One of my foreign colleagues who has kids in the public school system said it best, “The U.S. is the best place for a kid to study if they are average or below average, but it’s the worst if they are top students.” </p>

<p>Though there are exceptions, I thought that was a pretty apt characterization.</p>