<p>Did anyone read this article in the New York Times this morning? Has anyone here had this happen to them? Is anyone worried about it? Thinking about it, I sort of am....Not so much for math/science (Though, maybe science, I'm really not sure what I'm going to do the next two years) but for humanities</p>
<p>No, but can you post a link? Or give a brief synopsis on the story?</p>
<p>I think the really big problem is that gap between public schools, and most of the schools they mentioned in the article (which are either magnet schools, or private schools that cost like 30,000 dollars a year). The most advanced thing I've done in English so far was reading Frankenstein this year and all the work that came with us (and I've been in the most advanced English courses at my school), which is really nothing compared to what the people in the article had to go through, or even people who go to upper-middle class public schools.</p>
<p>That makes me worry for opposite reasons. I'm in the same boat as Shravas. Then again, my school (and I) isn't upper middle class.</p>
<p>^I agree. The schools mentioned in that article are the "elite" high schools in the U.S. There is a big gap between high performing schools and low-performing schools. Most public high schools in the U.S. aren't even close to the performance of top public magnet schools.</p>
<p>I go to one of the top 10 schools in Florida, but the english program at my school is corrupted. The only book my class has read so far was Night. And our foreign language department is really lacking in good teachers.</p>
<p>If you've read "The Overachievers", those are the type of students they talk about. The rest of America is nothing like that. The lower to lower middle class is average. You want to get into an ivy? Good luck, we won't get you there.</p>
<p>My school is an average public high school. Lots of APs offered but no post-AP classes. There is a culture of mediocrity here that very few people escape (everyone ends up at UMCP or UMBC!!) so there's no incentive to hire teachers and add courses like those in the article. (Shravas, I read Frankenstein in 10th grade Honors English!)</p>
<p>I'm also concerned with the growing gap between the elite private schools/magnet high schools and the average public schools.</p>
<p>The nearby Magnet High School (Montgomery Blair HS) offers courses in Astrophysics, quantum mechanics, Linear Algebra (perhaps Complex Analysis, I'm not sure), robotics, biochemistry, marine biology, genetics... among others.</p>
<p>What have I take that remotely rivals those? Biotechnology. And what's ridiculous is that my biotech course isn't even acknowledged as honors/advanced even though it is as rigorous as AP Biology (stupid county).</p>
<p>Part of me thinks that in the end it doesn't matter that you take these courses in HS because when you get to college you're back at the starting line. But kids that have graduated from Blair Magnet have told me that the program has prepared them for college so well that their freshman year courses at schools like Columbia seem a breeze.</p>
<p>Sure, I'm envious. It gives them an advantage when applying for college. But I'm also glad I was rejected from Blair Magnet :P I think I've had more fun/met more cool and influential people this way.</p>
<p>
[quote]
courses in Astrophysics, quantum mechanics, Linear Algebra<a href="perhaps%20%5BB%5DComplex%20Analysis%5B/B%5D,%20I'm%20not%20sure">/B</a>, **robotics,** biochemistry*, **marine biology, **genetics... among **others*.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Nice.
That place would be like heaven for me. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>At Blair, a ton of the magnet kids go to UMD-CP for cost. Also, lots of those kids may major in science or engineering (like their scholarships tell them to do) but not as many will go on to PhDs in those fields. These kids may be learning a hell of a lot more, but do they really do it to learn, or just to get into college?</p>
<p>My school doesn't even offer biotechnology. Or any AP/post AP classes for that matter. And I doubt that it'll offer any post AP classes by the time I graduate either.</p>
<p>Wow, I am seriously considering transferring to enloe...
If only it weren't so far away. I value sleep too much get get up at 5 in the morning...</p>
<p>Yes, my school does not even offer entry level physics. Many students have teachers who literally do nothing.</p>
<p>Didnotfaillife - isn't our school supposed to offer an AP next year? Post-AP classes will come in a few millenniums. XD</p>
<p>Yep. But when I'm a senior there won't be post APs.</p>
<p>And face it Chaos, the APs that they will offer next year won't be that great. Calc, Environmental science, English, US gov... and thats probably it. (Maybe bio and chem too but I highly doubt those)</p>
<p>Ah, the wonders of self studying...
Lots better than studying with other people. Haha, I just got Barron's AP comp sci book about a week ago and I'm already 2/5 of the way through o__0</p>
<p>My school's APs include..... I got nothing. No, wait, we have government and bio and APUSH. I think that's it.</p>
<p>Yes. I don't think they'll have AP English. I'm predicting: Environment, Calc. AB (for Juniors, at max! :eek:), maybe AP US History or World History. And our school doesn't even accept self-studying or online courses. It's like we're caged in.
"Ok, this year take Algebra II, then wait one whole year and take Pre-Calc. sophomore year, then take Calculus AB for 10 months, then Calculus BC for 10 months in your senior year!"</p>
<p>-_-" . . .</p>
<p>Yeah... that's true about Blair. But the kids there have way more opportunities through the program (although you may not notice, Venkater because you go to a school that has almost as good a reputation in the area!)</p>
<p>And no, Blair ain't heaven. The magnet program was instituted with the purpose of bringing intelligent students to a ghetto school in a pretty bad area. The opportunities are nice, but I mean I've gotten many of the same just by looking around and doing my own work (the one nice thing there is that the counselors really hand you things on a silver platter and really want you to get into your top schools).</p>
<p>I think that they take the courses because of an interest they want to itch. Not necessarily to get a leg up in admissions or to make the college courses easier (Millicent is taking genetics even though she isn't in the Magnet program, man... it's double period and so she gets to NIH late! - so only Venkater got that hahaa)</p>
<p>Wow no AP's? Yikes. Oh well, it's a good thing admissions try to relate things back to opportunities your school offers.</p>
<p>Chaos: That's pretty much how my school works. No one has the motivation to study for tests, let alone self-study APs, so my district has no policy on that.</p>
<p>My school technically doesn't have any of these kinds of opportunities either, but it's an independant study school so you basically can make them. Only ONE other person has done an AP and finished it.</p>
<p>But I've thought about it more, and I doubt I'll really have this problem. In the humanities, there's always more to think about. In math I won't be that advanced. In science, I'm going to be doing lots of different areas, rather than just working ahead in more. And in social sciences, I'll probably get different slants. Of course, this all requires thinking beyond AP - Western Civilizations, Humanities, Business Ethics, Astronomy...for some I'm either doing, have done, or am going to do.</p>
<p>Exactly. "Nobody has cared before and we didn't have to deal with them, so why start now?"</p>
<p>It's like you are studying Differential Calculus right now and next year, you're going to take Pre-Calculus. It gets a bit frustrating. I just hope that somewhere down the line, it's going to change. Hopefully.</p>
<p>Chaos: Whao! What? Calc is only going to be AB? o<strong>0 for the whole year? Why the whole year if we're on block anyway? I bet we'll be learning how to add fractions for a week ( like we are now -</strong>-" )
Lol, if they do that I'm going to self study the BC curriculum and take that exam... (and ace it)</p>
<p>But yea, I remember the math teacher saying something about how he didn't want AB/BC next year. God, for once I hope they don't listen to him.</p>
<p>I know that there will be an AP english course next year though.</p>
<p>Our school does accept self studying. I talked to the counselor and she was helpful about getting me an exam spot at another school for AP comp sci.</p>
<p>Well, looking at the way our school has planned the courses, I don't think they're going to be able to accommodate BC Calculus. It isn't the teachers; they have to teach what the district wants them to. How much have you learned in Algebra II? I haven't learned anything. That's not a good thing. :p</p>
<p>Which teacher? The one that we have? He's pretty angry at the school, too. The school doesn't listen to him at all. He doesn't even know what he is teaching next semester, and next semester is in two weeks. That's good planning for ya.</p>
<p>What do you mean by accept self-studying? Do you get credit for it?</p>