<p>My family is an interesting test case of all of this as both of my children have gone through the same Junior High and High School that I did - and in a few cases had exactly the same teachers. To make it even more interesting, my mom is a reformed pack rat who recently brought down a box full of my high school work.</p>
<p>I was a decent student in high school - mostly A’s. Both of my kids get higher grades than I did on average - essentially straight A’s with a couple of Bs.</p>
<p>Looking at the work, I would assess it like this:</p>
<p>English - My DD has had more difficult classes than I did - she took 2 APs which did not exist in my day. My son did the Honors route and had an easier time than I did. I know that I read more books and wrote more papers than either of them - but my daughter does the kind of work that I learned to do in college. Call it a tie</p>
<p>Math - Their math blows my math away. I went through calculus but they cover far more material in far more depth. 1 point to the modern generation</p>
<p>Social Studies - California standards watered down the content for world studies - I had far richer and more interesting World history classes. I also had a great American History teacher as did my DD (my son’s was weaker for sure.) Their civics is far better than mine. Call it a tie</p>
<p>Science - Theirs is richer and more challenging - despite taking exactly the same classes in the same order with some overlapping teachers. My lab reports look like Junior high next to theirs. 2-0 lead for the youngsters</p>
<p>Foreign Language - I had a great teacher - theirs was terrible. I think the tools are better today - but there is no substitute for a great teacher. 2-1</p>
<p>Looking back on it, I think that kids today take a richer program - but that I had some really good teachers that made the material shine - and a few of their teachers were less than outstanding. Switch teachers for Foreign Language and get CA out of the classroom and they win 4-0.</p>