Some of you may want to skip over this blog about high school, but chances are, someday you will have a teen in your life who may need the info. I encourage you to READ ON! Budget cuts have been a bummer no matter how you look at it. If you cannot afford a private school education, chances are your kids are in over-crowded classrooms with over-worked teachers. Granted, I am NO PRO in this arena, I am beginning to educate myself. Something is broken. I encourage you to know your child and educate yourself in the best possible scenario BEFORE they hit high school. There are OPTIONS!
This may be controversial and beyond what I ever thought I would share as a whole but here goes…If you do NOT have a straight A student capable of achieving A's in AP courses, enroll in "honors" classes and/or AP at your own risk. When my oldest child was in HS, he chose honors classes as a freshman. These classes are NOT weighted and thereby if your child receives a "B"…a 3.0 is averaged into their grades. A 3.0 overall GPA will NOT get your child into engineering school. As you move from honors, you are offered AP courses. These college level classes ARE weighted (ie. A "B" is an "A" etc…) however, in order to receive college credits, you must "test out" of these courses with a 4 or 5 (out of a possible 5). CU for example, does not take 3's which would easily pass you out of a college level course. SO…you have now spent $ to be "in" the AP class, another $100 (on average) for the book(s) , and another $90 to test at the end of the year. If the child does not receive a 4 or 5, you have just wasted your money and, in many cases, the kids are receiving C's, which are again, bringing their GPA down. Another bummer is that here you have a smart kid who is working his butt off for B's and C's and ,at graduation, there are kids who took basket-weaving walking across the stage getting special honors for their GPA's. Just make an educated decision!
This brings me to last week. I had received an email from the school about "Academic night" which encompassed the new IB program , AP courses, and credits available at the local community college. I brought my younger boy who is currently finishing his 6'th AP class as a Junior. We had break-out sessions and we headed directly to the community college classroom. There were a total of 6 parents attending…SAD. The HS counselor explained to us that there were college classes offered at the local high schools, completely paid for that the kids could incorporate into their schedules. Some schools in our county have 10 or 15 available, some have 3 (our school L)…The great thing about these classes? If you pass, you get college credit. PERIOD. All state schools in Colorado, (including CU), must accept these credits. Your child has the chance to start a University as a sophomore, completely paid for by the schools in your district. In our case, it is first come, first served if you drive to the local community college where they have too many class offerings to count. SO…there is even a chance to go the local college, take classes tuition free, and transfer them to the school of your choice (in Colorado) upon graduation. This was a BIG eye opener for me so I took it upon myself to raise my hand with this comment/question: "I have an "AP" student sitting next to me right now. If he doesn't get a "B" or better, these classes are bringing DOWN his GPA, costing about $300 per class, and are basically a complete waste. He will be a senior next year. How can we best use this program to tackle some non-engineering courses that can be transferred to CU (in our case)?" I think he turned white. Some of the other parents said "I never thought about that!" He straightened up and asked, "Well, what are you taking?"…My youngest was a little embarrassed and took a minute to run through his 4 AP course titles and other 2 classes. His response? "Well…that's a good question!". I had a couple of other "good questions" that night too. I even brought up the fact that we were "highly encouraged" to put our kids into the AP classes if they were capable of achieving a "C" grade (which is really a "B") cause "that is really good…these classes are tough".
I don't want to leave you with a "this is what I would do" comment, but more of an FYI. PARENTS…DO YOUR HOMEWORK!... The class we went to last week was only one of several. Your child can be an auto mechanic when he graduates high school, start a flight school program, and much more. Some kids aren't "4 year degree" types of kids and THAT IS OKAY! There is even a program called "Pro Start" which helps kids not only become chefs, but learn how to run a business in the process! What child would not find value in the actual process of starting and running a business? There ARE options in the public school. IN our case, I just needed to pay attention to the "email meeting announcements" and also wanting more for my child who I know can have an even better education.
As a funny side-note, my son looked up the name of his counselor on his cell phone during the meeting. I whispered "Don't you know the name of your counselor? You are a junior!"…As it turns out, he was standing in front of us. He may not like it, but here I come!
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