<p>We got a new conductor this year and he is working us to death. He is giving us actual grades on everything too, which means now, my lowest grade ever is in his class. I am working to bring it up. But I got an F one day in a surprise inspection because I guess my nails were too long. I do not have long nails at all, they are very short. My nails are shorter than most boys. </p>
<p>I am in multiple AP classes and still playing for the city orchestra. In the past, the old conductor made sure none of the school concerts were on the same night as the city concerts. Now the new conductor just didn't care and they are overlapping. I have been in the city orchestra since 7th grade. The new conductor assigns hours of homework every night, as if that were possible. I have more homework from orchestra now than I do from Ap chem, AP econ, AP gov't, and French 5 combined. </p>
<p>Would it look bad if I dropped the orchestra class? Oh, and he increased the fees. Just for the basic fees that every single person has to pay, it is a few hundred dollars. But that does not include anything from throughout the year. There are additional fees. </p>
<p>What do you think? Should I just stick it out? Or drop the varsity orchestra?</p>
<p>I want to add that I really love orchestra. But I am truly afraid that he will keep giving grades and stress like this, which will lower my grades on the transcript.</p>
<p>Can you talk to the GC or a dean about the situation? I don’t think such a radical change in expectations are good for the orchestra or is having stressed students dropping. What a sorry situation. The F for your nails is beyond ridiculous. Drop if you have to, but you might visit him first and tell him about your reasons first or at least after so he gets the feedback. He can’t want to chase students away I’d hope. At least you are still in the other orchestra so your commitment to playing is still shown on your EC’s. </p>
<p>I don’t think your grade in this one class should be of too much concern but if the load is affecting your other work then do what you have to do.</p>
<p>I agree with BrownParent’s advice to report the situation to the GC or dean . . . they really need to know what’s going on. And even if they’re vaguely aware of the changes, they need to hear from a student about the impact all these changes.</p>
<p>That having been said, I don’t think anything you do or say will have a significant impact on what happens this year - it’s too late to replace the guy, and it’s unlikely the dean would be able to provide enough oversight to make sure that any and all needed changes are actually implemented.</p>
<p>So my advice? Get out while the getting’s good! It’s just not worth taking a chance on “maybe things will get better.” My son was in a situation like this last year, knew he was really having problems with a particular teacher, but just kept thinking he’d be able to make it work. He wasn’t able to . . . and the outcome wasn’t pretty.</p>
<p>You’re still doing city orchestra . . . so I can’t see any reason to sabotage your senior year just to keep school orchestra on your transcript. If need be, your GC can add a note to your applications stating that you had to drop school orchestra because of a conflict with your prior commitment to the city orchestra. No one will think twice about it. (And, yes, I do believe that explanations like that should always come from the GC, rather than the student, whenever possible.)</p>