<p>Students Say High Schools Let Them Down</p>
<p>By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: July 16, 2005
DES MOINES, July 15 - A large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors Association.</p>
<p>Our district chose a different route, making AP courses very equivalent to college level courses and honors quite similar too. As a result all of our son's peers did very well as frosh in college. All his friends attained the deans list or better at colleges such as RPI, Cornell, Amherst, Colgate, Princeton, WMU, Penn Penn State, CMU and Duke.</p>
<p>I believe that hs's which water down their expectation do a disservice to their students when the get to college.</p>
<p>Our school went another way too, eliminating all APs and building a new football stadium and indoor practice facility.</p>
<p>It's great when districts are like originaloog's...the biggest problems come from the districts that decide that AP's are not important. Some of the people I've met at college have complained about only having 3 AP classes at their high schools and not having the option to take college classes for credit.</p>
<p>
[quote]
While a vast majority of respondents in the survey, 89 percent, said they intended to graduate, fewer than two-thirds of those said they felt their schools did an "excellent" or "good" job teaching them how to think critically and analyze problems.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>With so much emphasis being placed on testing and doing well on those tests whether it be the SAT, AP, state exams and pass rates being used as a measure of teacher performance, in some schools more time and resources are being used to "teach to the test". In many schools this is a major reason why these same student who perform well on test are lacking the the critical and analytical skills necessary to do well in college.</p>
<p>Schools also have limited resources so money that could be allocated for AP and honors courses are being used to make sure students master basic skills especially in under performing districts. It becomes a vicious circle because good teachers don't want to teach in these districts even with incentives such as loan forgiveness and increased salaries. Those that do end up leaving after 2 years to go off to LI or Westchester county where salaries are higher.</p>
<p>Reading this, I had a different perspective. It seemed to me that the survey results weren't that surprising. Every chance they got, the kids blamed the school system rather than accept any personal responsibility. Dropping out of school? The kids filling out the survey don't want to admit that they weren't smart enough for school, so they blame the school and say they aren't learning anything. Not working up to potential? The kids don't want to admit to being lazy, so they say that maybe, you know, if we were challenged more... knowing the whole time that it's hypothetical!</p>
<p>I'm not trying to say that schools aren't letting kids down. Of course they are. Schools could be far better, and should be. That doesn't excuse these kids from taking some responsibility for their own educations. </p>
<p>In a few years, these kids will be working. When they get fired because they fail to learn what the job demands, will it be because the boss failed them?</p>
<p>The results that 'high schools are too easy' confirm my experience. I took 6 ap's (bio/euro/bc cal/spanlang/physc/englit) and it wasn't anywhere near the difficulty that I excpected. I pulled off all A's (99 in calc, 97 in phys, etc). Yes, some of my classmates did struggle even when taking only 1 or 2 ap's, but the majority of people I know weren't challenged at all.</p>
<p>Obviously, not procrastinating helped me out, but things shouldn't have been as easy as they were.</p>
<p>I guess I'll have to wait until September to see if the easiness of AP's was due to my school or my aptitude. I'm placing bets on the school. I know I'm relatively smart, but that much so?</p>
<p>beck86nj
[quote]
Not working up to potential? The kids don't want to admit to being lazy, so they say that maybe, you know, if we were challenged more... knowing the whole time that it's hypothetical!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, it was NOT hypothetical for our S2. When he realized that his school will not let him work up to his potential, he started homeschooling - and did much better in the college courses, where he WAS challenged more.</p>
<p>How did you go on the exams Kart? This should be an indication as to the quality of the courses.</p>
<p>marmat103: Many kids will work harder when challenged more. I just wanted to point out that it's very easy to say you would work harder if challenged more, and it's something else to actually do it. </p>
<p>What your son did seems like a good example of taking responsibility for his own education. I know plenty of kids who have done similar things (one of my friends taught himself a great deal of physics while the rest of his high school class never got past vector addition). I just think it's upsetting that so many kids will just take whatever high school can give them and not try for anything better.</p>
<p>I understand what the article is saying, but it still feels like something of a copout to me. If school isn't challenging enough, find a way to challenge yourself! Isn't that what libraries are for?</p>
<p>
[quote]
How did you go on the exams Kart? This should be an indication as to the quality of the courses.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>-Bio - 5
-Euro - 4
-BC Calc - 5 / AB subscore - 5
-Spanish Language - 2 or 3 (i'd need a 4 or 5 for it to appear online on my college's page, and it's not there)
-Physics C - 5mech/4em
-didn't take English Lit since it doesn't count for credit, and 'seeing how I would have done' wasn't worth the $80</p>
<p>beck86nj,
[quote]
If school isn't challenging enough, find a way to challenge yourself! Isn't that what libraries are for?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>with all the school busywork piling over your head?.. :(</p>
<p>Homeschooling is not for everybody, and it's not always possible to combine the school and afterschool work (transportation... cc does not let you take classes... money...). So, alas, it's not so rare occasion when "schooling interferes with one's education"</p>
<p>Why would kart's AP scores show how good the classes were? Maybe he/she did extra studying on his/her own to get good scores.</p>
<p>Yeah, our S3 took half of his APs after self-study. Average: 5.0... Average for APs taken at school 4.8 :)</p>
<p>I've always wondered--what are the reasons for homeschooling? I'm sure they vary from person to person, but is one of the reasons honestly because the public schools in the child's area suck?</p>
<p>I was lucky enough never to have classes with a great deal of busywork, and I never cared about busywork enough to give it any more time than I had to. But yeah, I can see how that could be an issue for a lot of kids. </p>
<p>I realize that homeschooling can present a lot of challenges and that it isn't for everyone, but I still think that there are ways to get around school interfering with eduction. When I was in high school I skimmed summer reading books, then spent the rest of the summer reading what I wanted to read and teaching myself about stuff I was interested in. My summer reading test grades suffered slightly, but I learned more, which made it worth it to me.</p>
<p>Where there's a will there's (often) a way...?</p>
<p>bluealien01, sometimes it's the reason. In the case of our S2, not exactly. Actually, our current school is pretty good, and S3 did receive quite a good education there... I'd call it "incompatibility". S2 wanted to learn stuff they don't learn at school (microprocessors, philosophy, psychology, Russian literature), and all the busywork did not leave much time for it. In addition, he was not allowed to take challenging classes (did not get A's in previous years) - so instead of spending time in school he preferred to get out and shape his education himself.</p>
<p>Was good for his GPA, too... :)</p>
<p>bluealien01, I did a great deal of studying for euro, spanish, and physics. not so much for calculus (it builds on itself) or bio.</p>
<p>beck86nj, I agree that there's (often) ;) a way... but not always. And - if one has to get his/her education while his/her school is not helping (and even standing in the way) - that's exactly what I'd call "High Schools Let Them Down" .</p>
<p>fair enough :)</p>