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Honor societies are fun. Our NHS chapter either tries to initiate bonding activities or talk about how we're going to take over the world. Of course, you have to get along with the people in order to enjoy yourself.
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My school is odd then. No one knows what we do in NHS's besides tutor and gets points. All the members in my school have to say is "Oh, it's just another slack club... looks great on my application."</p>
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And I don't get the APUSH thing. Are they criticizing you for not taking an honors class? Are they criticizing you for the taking the AP test? If the latter, then I'm not surprised. I could've gotten guaranteed college credit for my APUSH class, but I opted to take the test instead. I wanted to measure what I've really learned, and I wanted to challenge myself. Last year I had a AP European History class, and the teacher was god awful, being in his first year teaching the class and also being a stubborn jack***. In fact, I came in knowing more history than he did. Yet I still took the test, because I want to challenge myself, to see if I could do with minimal guidance from the instructor. And nearly all of those who took the AP Euro test with me got 5s (so from what I can see your APUSH class's motivation is in question too, not just the teacher's ability).
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You know what's sad? I was told if I wanted a 5 on the test, I should've taken 20th Century history. It's taught by the most popular teacher in our school, and it's by far the most popular elective, after foreign languages for graduation and drivers ed for your license. I had to decide between that or intro to engineering. Guess which one I took.</p>
<p>You're right to question my class' motivation. About 90% of the students use the class to complain about their English teacher. And in our school, it's expected that if you take an AP class, you'll take the test too.</p>
<p>The teacher basically outlines the book. She stands, she regurgitates what we should've read. Our homework is to outline the book. The questions she gave us can easily be answered by copying a paragraph verbatim from the book. We get a DBQ practice once every nine weeks, and she fails to grade it in time before grade closes. It may sound like it, but I'm not exaggerating any of this.</p>
<p>APUSH class should be about challenging ideas. I challenged the teacher that the Civil War was not really about slavery, and the north was only using that as a front for an invasion, and that many correlations can be made from the Revolutionary War. She was like, "Ok, if that's what you think." End of discussion. I mean, com'on. For a class whose corresponding test has a writing section, we don't really do much writing. I can do a lot of "critical thinking" from this, and she's like "Ok, that's what you think." Is that not discouraging?</p>
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Consequently, then, you shouldn't be surprised if people criticize you for it. If you don't think the class prepared you enough, that's fine. However, it seems you claim that taking the test would somehow compromise your learning, when the test isn't part of your learning but a field where you prove it.
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No no, you misunderstood me. I don't care about the test. I took the AP History because it was read, outline, discuss. Honors VA History was cut, paste, and draw timelines. If that's honors, then I can't imagine what CP history is. I learn best by reading. Making timelines is not an effective way for me to learn anything.</p>
<p>And I want to learn what actually happened. The only thing I learned this year is that people would vote on a presidential candidate with no stand on any issue, and apparently having silk underwear is a bad thing. Everything else I already knew from.... pre-high school history classes or the history channel. The possibility that America is founded on illegal immigration? Of course, we didn't even touch on that. =.= I learn more history from current events than actual history class. Does anyone else see a problem with that?</p>
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Furthermore, many people in my classes took the AP test regardless of the teacher's quality; they wanted to make sure their time in class wasn't wasted, so they attempted to challenge themselves to the test, learning themselves what the teacher couldn't teach. I personally took a few AP tests in fields I was shaky about. So, it won't be surprising if people question your decision when they compare you to people who do take the test. Those people didn't waste $82, they gambled it on the "maybe." They might have won, they might have not. The thing is, they took comfort in that they tried. I'm not sure what you're looking for; do you want to be respected for not even trying? It's okay not taking the test, but don't think that it'll reflect favourably upon you.
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I'm not a gambler, so like I said, that's "just me." I rather be not respected for even trying because at least I'm honest about it. Half of the people taking the test is only doing it because they are brainwashed to think they are obligated to do so</p>
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More importantly though, dude, it doesn't seem as if you're breaking the mold very much. You first got offended by a honor society and decided to distance yourself. Then you didn't take the AP test, which is actually a very, very common thing, at least in my school. Then you got suspended. I'm not sure you're actually breaking much mold here, as getting suspended, not taking the AP test or or not caring about honor societies is very common. Well, I guess that most people would rather get into NHS and then never attend rather than outright rejection, but that's not much of a difference. Honestly, it seems to me that you're breaking out a lot less than what you think, from what you described here anyways.
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We go to very different schools then. The typical "good student" at my school get good grades (obviously), try to get in as many NHS's and clubs as possible (that, apparently, don't do much), not because it interests them, but because "it looks good on college applications," do not even get detention, and takes a bunch of AP classes and accompanying tests. Not many people take an AP class and then not take the test in our school. Maybe about two kids max per class. Teachers (and classmates) are usually so absolutely shocked that I can drop and F-bomb every now and then. I'm not sure how you would classify that, but I'd say most kids in my classes fit perfectly in the stereotype of perfect students.</p>
<p>I mean, seriously, about half of my class has at least 3.0 GPA, which is basically the requirement for Beta. And I must've had at least 20 various people asked me why I wasn't in Beta. If I was the only person in my APUSH class (of at least 25 kids) to not be in it, that says something, doesn't it?</p>
<p>My suspension happened before I entered high school, but the sceanario would still be the same.</p>
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That being said, I'm not sure why breaking out of the mold is so great. For certain people it is, but I think the mold is there for a reason. I didn't reject offers to join an honor society. I lose nothing by doing so, and I get certain opportunities to hang out with my buddies and meet new people. I don't get suspended because I don't do many things that get me suspended. And I take the AP test because I see no real reason not to. If this is staying in the mold, then frankily I'm not sure why you would want to break it.
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Despite what it may sound, but I don't make most of these decisions on an attempt to break out of it. Teachers keep telling me that I'm odd and unique, and they probably don't mean that in a good way either. My classmates tell me that I'm strange, weird, etc because I think differently, and obviously, when they tell me that, they never mean it in a good way.</p>
<p>This is a result of what happens when I can think clearly and decided to sit down and reflect about various things in life.</p>
