The College-Prep Two-Step Are-We-Insane Ragtime Dance
Sunday, 10 July 2005 00:38![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsI heard this story second-hand this weekend, and I shall twist and tell it here, along with my analysis, but I shan't expose the town or state. Suffice to say it is neither Michigan nor in the South.
We Only Have A Few More Summers For Summer Vacations
The story we were told was of a family with two children in elementary school in some not-so-distant part of the U.S. That plans of long road trips vacationing across this land to the Grand Canyon and other spots, would have to be done in the next few years before the first of the kids hit high school.
Because once in high school, the college-bound children are told they "must" take some of the basic courses during summer school, so they will be able to take the Advanced Placement (AP) classes in the regular school year -- and they'll "need" the AP courses to get into college.
Wait a second -- we have enough trouble taking vacations in the country, between not having much vacation time for the parents in their jobs to parents whose work ethics keep them at the job and out of the home in general, let alone taking off weeks to travel out and about this country. The Europeans already think we're crazy with how badly we treat the concept of vacations, though having the Europeans against us may be a badge of honor to some over here (grin).
Since When Are AP Courses Required In High School?
While it is nice to take AP courses, especially as they can be more interesting to the bright student than the normal "boring" classes, there is a lot of conflicting information on their ultimate usefulness. I remember being told in high school in the early 1970s that if you took an AP course, and then took the AP exam, and if you got a high enough score -- why you'd get college credit when you got to college.
Going to Northwestern, I found out that while they didn't mind if you had AP credits, they really wanted to have you take their version of the courses, and so often the AP stuff didn't have much effect. Similar with my wife and Earlham College.
But colleges requiring you to take AP classes in high school? I find that hard to believe. Perhaps, in the competitive scramble out of one high school district, if everyone is applying to the same elite schools, maybe you want something to differentiate yourself -- but differentiation means people being different, not everyone doing the same.
Or does everyone think we need to become more like the Japanese by frantically working to get ahead to stay in the same place?
Even The Japanese Aren't Being So Japanese Any More
The Japanese educational system was once described as having this insane system of after-school schools, where you studied to get into the best colleges, by studying to get into the best high schools, by studying to get into the best... you can see how this cycle goes. And often, the brightest students in high schools were bored, because they'd already studied the high school material in the after-school schools, prepping for high school.
Gaack!
But the falling birthrate plus an overbuilding of higher educational facilities in Japan, means that the current students have figured out that they are being fought over now, instead of having to compete to get in. So they're not working as hard as the previous generation, because they can get into the top schools -- or get a better deal at a lower tier school.
How To Justify Summer School Expenses?
At first the only thing which made sense was as a marketing ploy. Not only are more school districts doing more things with summer school, but No Child Left Behind is also mandating more time in school -- if not in fact then in the way it is being implemented.
So if you said that the better students have to do summer school and this isn't remedial, then perhaps it is easier to (a) fund summer school in the district and (b) fund the AP classes in the regular school year.
Genius, eh?
Perhaps It's Really More Insidious That This
But... a later part of the discussion talked about the overlapping of neighborhoods making up the high school district, and in sketching out the land with a finger in the air, suddenly there's a line drawn and I hear about the black neighborhoods.
Has it really come to this?
Could this all be an oblique way for the good little white taxpayers to avoid having their little darlings sit in classes with "those black children"? After all, surely attending summer school is an extra cost, as is taking an AP class in many places. So with the college-bound upper income (white) kids being funneled into taking the basic classes in the summer and the AP classes in the rest of the school year, why then they'd be... well I just don't have my thesaurus online at the moment, what is a nicer word for (whisper) segregation (/whisper)?
Sadly, I fear -- in the wake of having no more direct information -- that this could be possible.
So Why Rant If I'm Not Sure?
Because something's wrong here. Either the parents are getting wrong information from a devious self-serving school district. Or the schools have figured out a way to scam the system and get their students "into the best schools" at the price of their childhood. Or this is the natural extension for a generation being raised on programmed play dates, being driving to and from everything, never being allowed to play or be on their own, and parents scared to death of not having their children within sight of someone at all times. Or this is code-word, backdoor bigotry, masquerading as better education.
Pick your problem and your poison. Something is rotten in the state of "Denmark."
Dr. Phil
We Only Have A Few More Summers For Summer Vacations
The story we were told was of a family with two children in elementary school in some not-so-distant part of the U.S. That plans of long road trips vacationing across this land to the Grand Canyon and other spots, would have to be done in the next few years before the first of the kids hit high school.
Because once in high school, the college-bound children are told they "must" take some of the basic courses during summer school, so they will be able to take the Advanced Placement (AP) classes in the regular school year -- and they'll "need" the AP courses to get into college.
Wait a second -- we have enough trouble taking vacations in the country, between not having much vacation time for the parents in their jobs to parents whose work ethics keep them at the job and out of the home in general, let alone taking off weeks to travel out and about this country. The Europeans already think we're crazy with how badly we treat the concept of vacations, though having the Europeans against us may be a badge of honor to some over here (grin).
Since When Are AP Courses Required In High School?
While it is nice to take AP courses, especially as they can be more interesting to the bright student than the normal "boring" classes, there is a lot of conflicting information on their ultimate usefulness. I remember being told in high school in the early 1970s that if you took an AP course, and then took the AP exam, and if you got a high enough score -- why you'd get college credit when you got to college.
Going to Northwestern, I found out that while they didn't mind if you had AP credits, they really wanted to have you take their version of the courses, and so often the AP stuff didn't have much effect. Similar with my wife and Earlham College.
But colleges requiring you to take AP classes in high school? I find that hard to believe. Perhaps, in the competitive scramble out of one high school district, if everyone is applying to the same elite schools, maybe you want something to differentiate yourself -- but differentiation means people being different, not everyone doing the same.
Or does everyone think we need to become more like the Japanese by frantically working to get ahead to stay in the same place?
Even The Japanese Aren't Being So Japanese Any More
The Japanese educational system was once described as having this insane system of after-school schools, where you studied to get into the best colleges, by studying to get into the best high schools, by studying to get into the best... you can see how this cycle goes. And often, the brightest students in high schools were bored, because they'd already studied the high school material in the after-school schools, prepping for high school.
Gaack!
But the falling birthrate plus an overbuilding of higher educational facilities in Japan, means that the current students have figured out that they are being fought over now, instead of having to compete to get in. So they're not working as hard as the previous generation, because they can get into the top schools -- or get a better deal at a lower tier school.
How To Justify Summer School Expenses?
At first the only thing which made sense was as a marketing ploy. Not only are more school districts doing more things with summer school, but No Child Left Behind is also mandating more time in school -- if not in fact then in the way it is being implemented.
So if you said that the better students have to do summer school and this isn't remedial, then perhaps it is easier to (a) fund summer school in the district and (b) fund the AP classes in the regular school year.
Genius, eh?
Perhaps It's Really More Insidious That This
But... a later part of the discussion talked about the overlapping of neighborhoods making up the high school district, and in sketching out the land with a finger in the air, suddenly there's a line drawn and I hear about the black neighborhoods.
Has it really come to this?
Could this all be an oblique way for the good little white taxpayers to avoid having their little darlings sit in classes with "those black children"? After all, surely attending summer school is an extra cost, as is taking an AP class in many places. So with the college-bound upper income (white) kids being funneled into taking the basic classes in the summer and the AP classes in the rest of the school year, why then they'd be... well I just don't have my thesaurus online at the moment, what is a nicer word for (whisper) segregation (/whisper)?
Sadly, I fear -- in the wake of having no more direct information -- that this could be possible.
So Why Rant If I'm Not Sure?
Because something's wrong here. Either the parents are getting wrong information from a devious self-serving school district. Or the schools have figured out a way to scam the system and get their students "into the best schools" at the price of their childhood. Or this is the natural extension for a generation being raised on programmed play dates, being driving to and from everything, never being allowed to play or be on their own, and parents scared to death of not having their children within sight of someone at all times. Or this is code-word, backdoor bigotry, masquerading as better education.
Pick your problem and your poison. Something is rotten in the state of "Denmark."
Dr. Phil
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:45 (UTC)Astute and alarming observation, Phil.
You're describing a similar scenario to the whole pale skin vs. tan around the Industrial Revolution. The upper classes used to want really white skin to show that they weren't working class baking under the sun out some field. Once the labor class moved indoors to factories, it suddenly became vogue for the upper classes to want a tan--showing, of course, that you weren't so depraved as to be cooped up in some sooty factory all day and could lounge your day away relaxing by the pool.
When I was in high school (89-92), summer school was only for the burn outs and those too stupid, lazy, or defiant complete coursework during the year. Summer school was a threat, a hammer used by the administration. Ironic that now it's the best kids who are expected to sit in a classroom during the summer.
--Trent
Pale and Tan
Date: Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:50 (UTC)I am probably sensitive to this because I went from New York State for K-9 to doing high school in North Carolina. The schools down there were still under Federal court orders for desegregation, and things which Northern schools did routinely, like track students in different math levels according to ability, were illegal. The only exception were AP courses, because they were from a national program and couldn't be construed as part of a Southern segregationist strategy.
The folks in North Carolina were a little bitter that Boston was able to avoid the same Federal controls, when they were just as bad as the schools in the South -- and of course places like Greensboro NC were getting quite an influx of Yankees coming down with various corporate moves, and they were upset that their darlings couldn't do honors classes like they had been scheduled for before their move.
Because of the advanced, accelerated courses I had taken in New York State, several of my 8th and 9th grade classes counted in high school, and since I never took a study hall, but filled my schedule with classes -- I graduated with some sort of a record number of credits.
Dr. Phil