Does anyone else think Florida is CRAZY?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Well hello. =)</p>

<p>So I've been pondering this for a while:
When it comes to "regular" (kids who take the regular, normal classess)education, Florida, at least by national popular opinion, sucks. But when it comes to "high" (the overachievers) secondary education, Florida has got to be one of the most competitive states. </p>

<p>Tell me if you agree or disagree and why. </p>

<p>I mean, simply compare kids in CC:</p>

<p>Amazing Kid from Nebraska= 5 APs. All 5s. </p>

<p>Amazing Kid from Florida= 10 APs. All 5s. </p>

<p>Of course this is a generalization, but what I am saying is that in Florida, we have much more opportunities than in other states:</p>

<ul>
<li>The state pays for AP fees for all public schools. </li>
<li>State also pays for college fees for any kids who want to do dual enrollment.</li>
<li>State pays for any kids who want to complete their associates degree and their last two years of high school at the same time at a local college.</li>
<li>The average school offers 18+ AP classes. </li>
<li>Free AP and Honors online courses available throughout the entire calendar year. </li>
</ul>

<p>You can see the consequences by numbers: Last year, out of the approximately 300 students in the country who got National AP scholar by Junior Year, the state with most winners was California followed by Florida. </p>

<p>As a result, in Florida, you get crazy-competitive kids. At my school, the average smart driven student takes at least 9-10 classes per year, all of which are mostly AP/IB/College level. (I take 10 classes a year. Mostly As. All APs. 2 foreign languages. Dual Enrollment. Online Courses. And I still rank 30 out of a class of 650)</p>

<p>(And my school is considered a "bad", "ghetto" school).</p>

<p>Please tell me if you have the same phenomenon in your school. In my school, you'd think getting anywhere is impossible as the average good college applicant has at least 300 community hours, is in at least 3 clubs, and like aforementioned, takes (and succeeds) in a bunch of hard classes. </p>

<p>Is Florida THAT crazy?!?!?! Or has overachiving reached a new level nationwide???</p>

2

<p>Well, you can say the same about Michigan though too. We have the WORST school district in Michigan- Detroit, but we have one of the top schools with Cranbrook and International Academy (public). We have online school and the state pays for our college (dual enrollment). It just really depends on the district you're in instead of the state.</p>

3

<p>It depends. I live in Florida and I certainly don't see a huge amount of overbearing powerhouse schools that churn out thousands of ultra-competitive students annually as you mentioned. There are some, but as you stated, it's a HUGE generalization.</p>

<p>Yes, there will be a higher level of students taking more advanced classes because the state so graciously pays for everything, but success in all of these higher level courses is not the norm. A lot of this is about enrollment. Schools encourage students to take AP courses, but a lot of them don't really care about the scores. There is a small group of schools that are extremely competitive, but the rest of the state is far behind. I wouldn't make the generalization that the entire state is competitive, though the opportunities provided do allow for greater success. Thank goodness for FLVS, Bright Futures, free AP exams, and DE.</p>

<p>I'm so indifferent towards FL anyway. Hate it (quality of education sucks) and love it (everything is free)... Additionally, I don't see the need to cram one's schedule with useless APs that are of no interest/use just for the sake of GPA boosting. Will a college really care that I took all the AP art or history courses if I'm going to be an engineering major? Probably not.</p>

4

<p>
[QUOTE]
Well, you can say the same about Michigan though too. We have the WORST school district in Michigan- Detroit, but we have one of the top schools with Cranbrook and International Academy (public). We have online school and the state pays for our college (dual enrollment). It just really depends on the district you're in instead of the state.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>I don't think it's close to being to the some extent as the OP described. First of all, Cranbrook isn't that great. Also, the state doesn't pay for online AP classes or AP tests, and most schools don't offer many AP or IB classes. I do agree that it really depends more on the district than on the state.</p>

5

<p>There are so many IB schools in Florida, it's ridiculous. </p>

<p>I go to the worst performing school in my county, and we still have a nice selection of AP classes (about 12). Most of the students are dual enrolled; there is a community college in walking distance from my school. Our school has the highest amount of students graduating with a high school diploma and AA degree every year.</p>

6

<p>lol in my florida public school i will graduate with 19 ap courses, 1 ib class (transferred schools) and 2 dual enrollment classes along with countless honors classes and ill be like number 4ish</p>

7

<p>/&lt;/p>

<p>***?!!</p>

8

<p>um...I would argue New York, and most of the NE would be the most competitive, and THEN florida. Though I respect floridians, there are less of them applying to top schools in NE = easier</p>

<p>honestly, my public high has absolutely every person who goes there in IB. I'm not even kidding.</p>

<p>Plus, everything is relative....It's just a huge generalization to be like, wah, florida is so hard.</p>

9

<p>FLVS I hear is a joke though.</p>

10

<p>I was mad when I found that my high school did not allow me to take AP courses until junior year. I took the only AP course available in sophomore year and the teacher was horrible to be honest.
I kinda wanted to be an AP scholar before junior year, but I can't self study 5 AP courses without having a nervous breakdown.</p>

11

<p>National Merit Semifinalist cutoffs are a good indication in this case. I know for sure that Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey are some of the top ones. I don't know where Florida fits in off the top of my head.</p>

12

<p>I'm in Florida and my school only offers 6 AP classes (Comp, Lit, US History, and Environmental Science, Govn't, and Econ). That being said, I'm able to take a ton of dual enrollment courses for free to offset it.</p>

13

<p>"but we have one of the top schools with Cranbrook and International Academy (public)"</p>

<p>International Academy def. beats Cranbrook (IBs vs. no IBs or APs)
Honestly, though, IA is costly (all the IB fees, etc.)
It sounds like Florida is a pretty good high school environment.</p>

14

<p>New York state pays for my schools AP and IB fees :)</p>

15

<p>CA ftw! 10char</p>

16

<p>I dunno. I'd argue Jersey's as, if not more, intense.</p>

<p>Maybe it's just Monmouth county though.</p>

<p>And as for how good a school is -- well, High Tech has a high rank...but offers 4 AP courses at most, so I don't think that says too much about a school's merit. Haha. I ended up doing 4 APs on my own.</p>

17

<p>I go to school in NYS, and we don't have ANY AP classes. Of course, my school is an anachronistic dinosaur pretending to be an educational institute. Our school is actually very effective in actually educating people; however, we are apparently the only holdout in the state against the AP/IB curriculum. I took the AP Eng test on my own this year, and my fee **** sure wasn't paid for by anybody but my family. </p>

<p>Appreciate what you're got, people. Better a giant hyper-competitve school with 20 APs than a tiny hyper-competitive-within-the-top-20 school with 0 APs. Come visit sometime.</p>

18

<p>^ 0 APs isn't always bad (if there are alternatives), but in your case I can see colleges being a little turned off.</p>

19

<p>^We have SUPA. :| Never heard of it? There you go. (it's basically where kids take courses through Syracuse University. Nowhere accepts it for credit except Syracuse University. I hate Syracuse University because it created SUPA.</p>

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<p>proletariat2 and cookie rawr!! :p Ok, I cross Cranbrook off of my list. But the International Academy is still ranked in the top 10 public in the country.</p>