<p>Well, Cromette, call me misinformed! I had no idea that SB 3 had passed! I was assuming the Texas Leg. was so busy concentrating on making a sales tax free holiday for gun sales and the like that the education bills were being ignored.</p>
<p>So that will mean that what - 2 or 3 years of students - will have graduated under 4x4?</p>
<p>I really don’t like science either but elected to take AP environmental science my senior year. It was a good choice for me- really easy/simple subject matter that she most likely knows a lot about already. I’d recommend it, even if you don’t think she’s “AP material”.</p>
<p>hahahaha… Tejas, where science is an option. Why am I not surprised? MS and LA to follow…</p>
<p>Understanding basic science is a must as others have pointed out on this thread. When my twins were babies, I certainly got a taste of scientific illiteracy from curious shoppers. I had one guy argue with me that they must me maternal twins since they looked like me and were girls. What?!! I gently tried to explain the two types of twinning to him. He told me I was wrong. Lordy… and that is only one example.</p>
<p>Do the science and yes, pick the lesser of the evils. My DD13b is in a freshman bio class as a senior and it’s just fine. She isn’t stressed about it. AP Bio would have been a disaster for her this year with all of the college stuff going on. In our state there are only two classes you can take to satisfy the bio requirement; AP bio and regular bio.</p>
<p>Anatomy hands down. it’s nice to know where all your body parts are located. Comes in handy and you’ll probably learn something you’ll need later.</p>
<p>Carbs, I was thinking AP Environmental, but then I read some on-line AP practice questions…</p>
<p>And I did look up the (now old?) requirements and the state has listed the courses that count…so that is why certain choices (like Nutrition) aren’t available.</p>
<p>cromette, this is what I found:</p>
<p><a href=“https://wwws.tcta.org/node/13286-comparison_of_2013_graduation_requirements_bills[/url]”>https://wwws.tcta.org/node/13286-comparison_of_2013_graduation_requirements_bills</a></p>
<p>Interesting, Missypie, I had not seen that. However, I’m not sure it’s up to date. Senate Bill 3, initially allowed for fine arts credits to be substituted by technical courses, and then that was revised. At least according to Senator Dan Patrick’s email to me! The way I had it figured, his distinguished plan wound up being the same as the distinguished plan now - but that’s not what your website says. Hmmmmmmm…I guess time will tell what shakes out.</p>
<p>Walker - three years hardly means that science is “optional”. Although I prefer the 4. :P</p>
<p>Just wanted to chime in because I’ve seen several posts about “basic literacy in the sciences” being vital. I agree with this. However, as the OP said, her child already has had Bio, Chem and Physics, so she certainly should have that “basic literacy” covered in these classes, right? My D will be in the same boat. She will have had all of those classes prior to senior year. She has no desire to pursue science any further, but will do so to get the check mark, versus studying something that she would enjoy more and that could help her later in college or career. It’s a conundrum of sorts.</p>
<p>Missypie, to answer your question - if Senate Bill 3 is a go - that means, in the strictest sense, I think 3 years of students. D2 graduated in 2011 and D3 graduates this year. Both are under 4 X 4.</p>
<p>And honestly, I think most parents who want their kid to be college bound will stick to the 4 X 4. It’s too competitive out there not to.</p>
<p>The class of '11 was “kinda sorta” under 4x4. As I recall (and my recall may not be perfect), if they didn’t want a distinguished diploma, they didn’t need a 4th year in HS and (maybe?) the IPC they took in 8th grade counted.</p>
<p>But one question is, three/four years of which science?</p>
<p>Compare these two students:</p>
<p>X took honors college-prep biology, chemistry, and physics (three years total)</p>
<p>Y took biology, AP biology, chemistry, and AP chemistry (four years total), but fears and avoids physics.</p>
<p>Which student has a stronger foundation in science?</p>
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</p>
<p>In the infinite wisdom of the members of some past session of the Texas legislature: Bio, Chem and Physics. Plus another year from a finite list.</p>
<p>Anything lab based. Anything requiring a kid to assimilate the basics of the scientific method. Anything that teaches a kid that a hypothesis can be ruled out with data. Anything that helps a kid read a graph or a chart.</p>
<p>My sister-in-law is a genetic counselor and the awful stories she tells of what people believe and don’t believe about human biology is a wretched commentary on our society.</p>
<p>So I don’t think the actual course content matters as much as the approach to science. Data. Experimentation. Longitudinal study. Sample size. Correlation does not imply causation. All that jazz. My cousin sees women who don’t believe that alcohol crosses the placenta and they say, “That’s just a theory” like they know what a theory is. </p>
<p>So anything focused on the scientific method that she won’t hate sounds like a good bargain to me!</p>
<p>Kids love the forensics class our high school offers - it was so popular they had to add sections. But I think there’s a lot to be said for taking the class with the best teacher - it makes such a difference. I don’t think kids should be allowed to avoid physics, one of my biggest regrets was having to take it cold in college. (Required for architecture school.)</p>
<p>I’d add any science that helps people understand statistics would be a huge boon to society.</p>
<p>“The class of '11 was “kinda sorta” under 4x4. As I recall (and my recall may not be perfect), if they didn’t want a distinguished diploma, they didn’t need a 4th year in HS and (maybe?) the IPC they took in 8th grade counted.”</p>
<p>Could be. It was drilled into our kids heads that if they wanted to go to college, they needed to be on the distinguished plan. I think even my 2007 grad did 4X4 - even if it wasn’t called that then.</p>
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<p>Biology and some of the social studies subjects (government/politics, economics, psychology) do make heavy use of statistics in real life, but the high school courses typically do not require a previous course in statistics (e.g. biology is usually taken early in high school, while statistics is often a senior year elective for students who have exhausted other math offerings or who want an “AP” course that is usually seen as easier than calculus), so the ability to apply statistics in those high school courses is limited.</p>
<p>Oh wait yeah I forgot about physics. That’s a really good basis to have. I took it last year and hated it (and most of my class struggled through it because our teacher constantly back and forth between being incompetent and thinking we were 60 year old rocket scientists already), but I’m really glad to have taken it.</p>
<p>What is her intended major?</p>
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</p>
<p>It took until the first kid graduated that I realized how ridiculous that line that the GCs gave us was. I kept not seeing the “distinguished” box checked on my first kid’s transcript. When I finally asked, the GC said the ony time “Distinguished” is placed on the transcript is after graduation…as in, after they’ve finished the application process. Plus, for Texas state school admissions, it’s based on class rank. Plus, do you think a great school is not going to admit a kid with all the math and science APs possible and a near perfect SAT if he hasn’t taken that third year of Spanish? It’s just something the GCs tell us all - basically starting in 6th or 7th grade - to make everyone as lockstep as possible.</p>
<p>Not that I have any strong opinions on the subject…</p>