<p>I'd definetely make like, a montessori-like high school. No requirements, standardized testing, whatsoever. Learn as you like. Follow your passions. Take calculus one day, and studio art the next. Eat lunch when you want. Walk outdoors. Be happy. :)</p>
<p>There would be no such test as the SAT in my national curriculum, nor a College Board. There will be a federal testing agency responsible for administering both sets of exams.
In every school, regardless of level, lunch breaks would be 90 minutes. Extra curricular activities would run for 120 minutes after school daily, and it would be possible to only join in one for a year. School would be five days per week, but it would start at 0930 and end at 1600, so three subjects per day for 120 minutes per subject would be in effect.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"some kind of school where only highly capable students would attend"</p>
<p>I disagree with the OP on this one</p>
<p>By the way, I totally think colleges should see these lists
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Share your views, MallomarCookie. I'd like to hear them. :)</p>
<p>-School starts at 8:30, out by 3.
-Math courses past Calc BC
-no physical education requirement
-parking on a first come/first serve basis (none of this juniors park way in the back bs)
-online grading-viewing system that updates itself automatically whenever teachers input a new grade
-picking up trash as a punishment (it was used in my middle school, hs could use it too).</p>
<p>Basically, my school with a few adjustments.</p>
<p>Haha, I actually have thought about this quite a bit.</p>
<p>It'd be
--a mathematically-oriented residential secondary school for grades 6-12 and ages 11-18. Tuition would be free, and admission would be based on a mathematical entrance exam meant to assess students' knowledge and ingenuity. Each class would have about 30-40 students in it, and they would be divided into small residential groups of ten.</p>
<p>--Everyone would start Alg I in 6th grade, Geometry in 7th, Alg II in 8th, Precalc in 9th, Calc I and II in 10th, Calc III (Multivariate) and Linear Algebra in 11th, and in 12th they'd take their choice of Differential Equations, Abstract Algebra, Graph Theory, Number Theory, or Complex Analysis. (pick two) Smart students would start Geometry in 6th grade and would thus be able to take four of these. All math classes would be proof-intensive. Grades would be heavily based on tests and especially final exams. (In 6th-8th grade homework would count for something too.)</p>
<p>--Statistics would be a required class for everyone to take in either 7th or 8th grade.
--All 6th graders would be required to take a class in formal logic. Believe me, it's helped a lot.
--6th graders would be heavily trained in the use of LaTeX so their professors could understand their mathematical notation.
--7th graders would be trained in the construction of persuasive arguments. (Read: intensive writing class) As one of their final projects, they'd be set loose on College Confidential and condemned to argue for or against
a) IB
b) AP
c) Affirmative action
They would be required to identify any ad hominems or fallacies of the inverse present in others' posts, as per their sixth grade logic training.</p>
<p>--Physics would be a three-year course, taken over 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. The bulk of it would be learned in 10th grade (as in Physics B); 11th grade would go more into depth on specific topics (as in Physics C); 12th grade would be a review of everything and would cover the cool little topics like relativity and astrophysics.
--Everyone would take AP Biology and Honors Chem in 9th grade. They would take AP Biology again in 12th grade to ensure recollection of the material. AP Chem would be covered in 10th grade but would be reviewed again in 12th grade. The 12th grade review classes would be shorter than normal classes, only meeting twice a week and outside traditional school hours.
--Everyone would be required to take the Biology Olympiad in 9th grade, the Chemistry Olympiad in 10th, and the Physics Olympiad in 11th, and would take the AMCs every year from sixth grade until graduation.
--11th and 12th graders would take things like organic and physical chemistry, genetics, etc.
--Hard science classes are deferred until 9th grade because of the students' lack of mathematical background.
--In 10th-12th grade, students would be required to take philosophy classes in which they would form opinions on the meaning of their existence, the meaning of virtue, and the nature of the ideal political system (if any). They would be required to defend their opinions in a 20-30 page dissertation.</p>
<p>--All students would be required to learn a programming language. 11th graders would take a course called Modeling in which students apply their programming skills to a current problem in math or science.
--The school would be located near a major university so there'd be no shortage of problems to solve, or teachers to teach higher-level courses.</p>
<p>--There would be special teachers floating around campus to help students in need of tutoring or any other sort of assistance. If students were unable to handle the rigors of the curriculum they would be placed on probation and assigned to the care of one of these teachers. If they continued to fail they would be expelled.
--Most homework would be optional but highly recommended for students in 9th grade and above.
--There'd be loads of electives on campus, but they'd only be available outside of school hours; school would run from 8am to 2pm (math/science courses + strange requirements like LaTeX and formal logic) and from 7pm to 9pm (humanities courses) every day.
--Outside of school hours there'd be multiple optional review classes; a 10th grader preparing for the AMC might want to attend "Review of 7th Grade Geometry," etc. Of course the 12th grade review classes (Review of AP Bio and AP Chem) would be mandatory.
--Each student would be paired with a faculty advisor with whom they could speak for advice.</p>
<p>^ Where do I sign up. :D</p>
<p>"set loose on College Confidential"
"c) Affirmative Action"</p>
<p>I like the way you think, fizix. I can see it now:</p>
<p>CCer: AA is inherently racist.
Student: Yo momma is inherently racist!</p>
<p>And I ditto Chaos.</p>
<p>I don't like the idea of making schools for the smart kids (ie, with entrance exams, etc.)--you learn better when you're surrounded by people of various academic talents/ability levels. The point isn't to have the smartest group of kids (if you made all these cool schools for smart kids, where would the "dumb" kids end up?)</p>
<p>The point is to have the most motivated group of kids, and to try to get every kid to be part of that group. That means getting great teachers who love the material and can easily make kids feel like learning or at least trying (admit it--it doesn't take much effort to get a smart kid to learn. The true test of a good school is the impact it has on the whole range of students).</p>
<p>So yeah--keep class sizes under 100 per grade level and under 20 per class section, and hire great teachers. I think that's the best way to make a high school :) I don't disagree with the above posters who talked about curriculum changes/innovations, though. Those sound pretty cool too.</p>
<p>-My school would be grades 7-12, uniforms required.
-Hours: 9-3, 20 min lunch, required 1 hr study hall
-Students have to take an entrance exam in 6th grade to test their abilities b/c the students will start 9th grade level work in 7th grade and complete their normal high school curriculum by 10th grade. During these 4 years, 4 years of math, science, history, english and a foreign language are required.
-Students are also required to take a current events lecture class every year (7th-12th) that will serve to answer questions and discuss solutions to world problems.
-PE required all 4 years, but students get to choose from a variety of PE classes including yoga, ropes course, rock climbing, sports classes, etc.
- One advanced elective required every year
-Starting in 11th grade, students start the "Academic Interest Program" in which students explore different career based classes in different academic subjects like: neuroscience, ethics in medicine, law, business administration, film production, computer graphics, architecture, nursing, teaching, cooking, electronics, etc.
- Each year, students will select two academic interests and work with an assigned mentor to:
- get internships in the selected fields
- learn to apply the acadmic interests to all core subjects
- write a 5000 word research paper about a specific topic in each selected
field</p>
<p>These schools seem so structured and evil! I would definetely feel creatively stifled. I mean, I hate the dumb kids too...but, give them a chance! I can see that if the average CC kid becomes the leader of tommorow, <em>shudder</em>, well let's just say, 1984 comes to mind...</p>
<p>My school would be 10-12.
- No uniforms.
- School hours: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM with 45 minute lunch and mandatory 1 hour 30 min study hall OR research/independent study (not AP).
- Public - no entrance exams.
- Core classes determined by state diploma requirements
- GED offered.
- Mandatory Etiquette/Family Life class.
- Selection of Honors, AP, and General level classes.
- Dual enrollment plans with local community college offering practical skills.
- Diverse electives.
- Class rank based on weighted GPA, ties allowed.</p>
<p>Here's the shocker:</p>
<ul>
<li>RESTRICTION TO TWO AP CLASSES PER SCHOOL YEAR.</li>
</ul>
<p>Why? Because we need to build a good foundation for knowledge, and rushing through AP classes usually isn't best for that. Also, grade inflation is nauseatingly common these days, and I think that AP classes should reflect interest, not a desire for a higher GPA. Finally, I'm sick of seeing classmates with dark bags under their eyes - heck, I'm sick of BEING one of those kids. The teenaged years are some of the best in life, physically, so why waste them fussing about everything?</p>
<p>Such a hypocrite, I know...</p>
<p>fizix's school sounds so great... </p>
<p>Ugh, now I have my eyes set on a fictional school.</p>
<p>-Location: New York, NY
-School would start at 9AM and end at 3:45PM. Classes are 75 minutes each with 5 classes per day.
-There will be block scheduling. Classes are held MW or TTh. No friday classes.
-Students may choose to take another class from 8:10AM to 8:55AM, MTWTh.
-PE optional for juniors and seniors, twice a week required for freshmen and sophomores.
-PE slot is after school, not during school.
-Friday is an activity day. Attendance not required.
-All classes have an honors option, including electives.
-Honors weight: 0.5, IB weight: 1.0, college credit course weight: 1.0
-Large selection of courses offered, including but not limited to IBs and business and finance courses not typically offered to high school students in partnership with local universities.
-Trimester system: 3 9-week trimesters.
-Senior internship program in which seniors will intern full time for a firm of their choice, not attend school, and meet with an advisor once per week. If relocation is needed, the school and firm will jointly provide it.
-No +s and - in grading. A=4.0, B=3.0, etc etc.
-Laptop required school; preference given to macintosh computers. Apple Store on campus.
-Final exams given during a class period, no set time.
-Seniors exempt from finals during winter and spring trimesters.
-Seniors accepted ED/EA have the option of extending spring internship to january to may provided he/she has met all other graduation requirements.
-Final exams will be dropped if the student's final grade is hurt by it, at the teacher's discretion.
-All teacher syllabi must be written such that the assignment under a date is due THE NEXT CLASS.
-There may not be any more than 3 tests given to any student per day.</p>
<p>Graduation Requirement 7th-12th:
-13 trimesters of english
-13 trimesters of mathematics
-12 trimesters history (US begins 7th grade)
-1 trimester microeconomics or macroeconomics*
-9 trimesters of science or through chemistry, whichever is less**
-11 trimesters of foreign language
-2 trimesters of art
-1 courses in financial management/finance*
-1 courses in business management***
-A declared concentration and senior internship last trimester before graduation related to said concentration.
-1 trimester course in college counseling (junior year/first trimester senior year)
-1 trimester course in public speaking/communication
Total: 65 trimesters of required courses/180 total class slots available. </p>
<p><em>Economics/Business and management concentrations must take 4 courses in financial management, finish precalculus, and take 3 trimesters of microeconomics or macroeconomics. The economics credits may be used to fulfill both this requirement and history requirement.
</em>Those who choose the sciences for their IB subject choices must take 12 trimesters and finish precalculus.
**Exemption may be given if student chooses to take 2 courses in financial management/finance. Exemption given to business and management concentrations only if subconcentration is finance/financial services.</p>
<p>All IB subject choices offered.
Participation in the IB Diploma program optional.</p>
<p>I seriously don't think that requiring students to take a bunch of classes they don't want to take is effective at all. I believe in giving students the liberty to explore different subjects without the pressure of grades or anything like that. Hence the light requirements.</p>
<p>There will be no grades, just written evaluations. GPAs will not be reported to colleges, scholarships or anyone else, but are just used for internal purposes. MetroCards provided for transportation to and from Manhattan.</p>
<p>Is anyone else thinking that this would be a great college admissions question?</p>
<p>^I'm prett sure. If UChi wasn't getting rid of the Uncommon App, I wouldn't be surprised if it had been on there.</p>
<p>I sincerely doubt there would be "entrance exams" for my school. There would probably be an admissions essay with a prompt like, "What makes your intellectual ticker go tock?" ;) So, okay, maybe not exactly that question... but it'd be a question that asks the applicant to describe their love for learning, their educational goals, etc. I want motivated learners at my school, not kids who got 2350 SATs in sixth grade. :rolleyes: I don't like that kind of kid. I wouldn't cater to kids whose parents are uber-pushy, who schedule every minute of the kid's day, who force their kid to take such-and-such classes and do such-and-such extracurricular activities so they'll get into an elite college, and who pay $40,000 for a private college counselor in order to get the kid into HYPS. I don't want students who'd do that to themselves, either. My school won't be a school for that kind of "competitive" student. My school will be for kids who are interested in the world and who are capable of taking their education in their own hands--and taking it not as a means of getting somewhere prestigious, but rather as a means of satisfying their thirst for knowledge and becoming an educated person--</p>
<p>--This is what I call a "highly capable student." Capability has little to do with SATs or Harvard, writing complex computer programs at age six or taking twenty-five APs. These things may be a product of intellectual capability, but they are not the means by which this quality should be measured. </p>
<p>If a school has a mixture of the kind of students I want and the kind of students who don't take their schooling seriously, then guess what? Often, the less serious students will take up the counselors' time, and the teachers' time; classes catering to them will crowd out the classes catering to the "highly capable" students, or worse, the classes will be mixed and the less capable students will bring down the level of rigor for the entire class. That's what happens at my actual high school. I'm taking a marine science class, which could be incredibly interesting--but it's filled with a lot of C (and below) students, which dumbs down the whole class and makes it a waste of time for the handful of really good students taking it. </p>
<p>A mixture of smart and less smart kids could benefit the less smart kids, but it holds back the smart ones. At least, this has been my experience.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>But yes, there really ought to be schools that teach "dumb" (intellectually uninterested and lazy) students to be motivated to learn. I can't envision how a school like this would be accomplished--maybe because I've never seen from the point of view of a "dumb" student. I know what makes me<a href="and%20my%20friends">/I</a> tick... but what makes *them tick? Small classes sizes and amazingly talented teachers... lots of personal attention... what else? What else? This doesn't seem like a complete magic formula. I'd love to hear some ideas for details of such a school. :)</p>
<p>A beating stick.</p>
<p>Haha, jk. </p>
<p>I would suppose something that gets them interested will get them to work. Different People have different preferences. I know kids who will slack off in class all day, but when it comes to practicing for their sport (or band or whatever), they don't stop till they're half dead. </p>
<p>Maybe more hands on classes?</p>
<p>I'd make education non-compulsory rather than catering to those who aren't interested. That way people interested in marine biology could go to school, and people interested in playing sports all day could play sports all day. That's the way it used to be.</p>
<p>The most important thing IMO is to not have any required courses. Different students have different passions. For example, there's no use in forcing me to write essays in English. I'm not going to get anything out of it.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would rather have students at my school who do have those high GPAs and SAT scores. When I posted my school (a while ago), I was thinking what kind of school I would have liked to go to growing up. The truth is I am now even more utterly confused about what I want to do (journalist, author, politician, astronaut...) because I never had the opportunity before to learn about different fields. I was a really quick learner, and my classes all throughout elementary and middle school (and even freshman year) were geared towards those kids who didn't do anything (and I was taking honors classes). That's why a few months ago I thought it would be so cool to just have an affordable boarding/private school for kids who want to challenge themselves and explore different fields in a structured environment (I know I sound like a brochure). I mean, maybe my post was a wee bit overboard (reading through what I wanted elementary school kids to do almost made me cry), but I would rather have gone to a strict and intellectually stimulated school than a loosely organized and mind numbing school.</p>