Limiting APs, no homework nights, and an end to high school midterms and finals? I can understand trying to take some pressure off the kids but it sounds like way too much change at once by this administrator.
If some parents don’t want their kids engaging in the rat race, then just don’t participate.
^^^ The inverse is also true; if a school has policies intended to restore some sanity to the high school experience, and parents don’t want their kids to benefit from them, then just make your kids do extra work at home.
BTW limiting APs and homework is not such a radical idea. I know of a high-performing school that limits APs to three per semester, and has some common-sense limits on homework. If one makes international comparisons, (Finland) the inherent advantages of homework for its own sake are problematic.
This sounds like @TheGFG 's district.
A very interesting article, the real issue here is with race and culture (White/Asian).
How is all of this at WWP going to help the students for college? In college you’ll have lots of homework, mid-terms and finals, and no parents hovering over unless the student commutes from home.
Very interesting piece that echoes a lot of the discussions I see here on CC. I don’t know the answer. I don’t want school to be dumbed down but I wish there could be more of an emphasis on learning challenging material because it’s fun and intellectually stimulating instead of winning the rat race. Who wants to raise rats?
It would be nice if the middle schools and high schools did a better job of offering challenging material. Much of what is offered is not challenging to many of the more capable or interested students.
I agree, yearstogo. My daughter is taking all AP classes this year because she says those are the only classes that are interesting. Her middle school years were pretty much a waste academically. I am a believer in public schools but I understand why people who can afford it go private. It’s hard to teach 30-plus kids with a wide range of abilities in one classroom.
Those of you who think this is about challenging offerings vs. a dumbed-down curriculum are not grasping a fundamental component of the problem that has developed in districts like this one. There is a booming, parallel education system in operation–an expensive and time-consuming one–that drives the rat race. It has gotten to the point that a smart kid who from a tender age has NOT been a part of the parallel schooling (eg. Chinese style cram schools and all day long summer sessions) can not usually access the challenging classes offered at the high school. He will be shut out due to insufficient background in the material. This district does indeed sound very much like mine, and one component here is that the district itself is getting in on the profit of outside classes. They now offer summer enrichment themselves and brag about the almost a thousand kids who enroll each year. There are pre-honors preparation classes for rising freshmen, for example, and those who don’t take them will struggle in advanced classes–I know from experience and my kids were 800 SAT kids too, so we are not talking about children with significant academic deficits. The stress is becoming too much here too, with middle school kids starting to self-injure over less than perfect grades etc.
I appreciate the work ethic in the immigrant students, but I find it ironic that they themselves are starting to complain about the pressure when they are the ones who brought and instituted their system here to the USA. In the dark ages I was able to gain admission to AP classes with no problem and without submitting an application, and I got into an excellent LAC without ever having to be tutored or attend summer enrichment courses. The reality for my kids has been different.
I really don’t think there is a good solution to this problem, only a “best” compromise. A school district should try to give parents and students as many options as possible (based on available funding).
My DS and DD had the choice between traveling across town (would add about 1.5 to 2 hours to the daily commute time) to an “elite” magnate school (with an IB program), or go to the local high school that offered a very good Cambridge AICE program (think “IB”). We decided to stay with the local high school; same amount of homework and rigor, a little less competitive (though you wouldn’t know it with my kids), and they get up to 2 hours, a day, added back to their lives. Other parents went with the IB program. What was the right answer for our family, isn’t necessary the right answer for another.
Other students/parents, at our local high school, preferred a combination of Honor/AP/DE courses, over the AICE program. We’re lucky to be in a district that can offer multiple choice. A rural district options would be much more limited.
Even with lots of options, some families will not be happy, but you’re limited (by funding) with what can be made available in a public school district.
Of course, this type of compromise doesn’t work if over 1/2 the parents feel the ONLY option is that magnate school across town. That all schools should only offer this level of rigor. That’s going to lead to a lot of folks being unhappy on both sides of the argument.
I should add that the majority of the proposed reforms will not solve this problem. Eliminating midterms and finals is silly. My high school did not have them, and I was at a serious disadvantage come college due to never having had to study for a long, cumulative exam before. I think the public schools are going to have to put an end to excessive advancement. Sure, have a excellent track for the smart kids, but enough of large numbers of middle school kids doing college work.
“No-homework nights” is also a bit silly. Lets say Tuesday is a “No-homework” night, the teacher will simply give the student enough homework on Monday, that it takes them two days to complete it. It just turns into a “catch-up on homework” night…
If the answer is to closely monitor how much homework is assigned, then there is no need for a “no-homework night”.
Each school should offer at most 14 AP classes. Each kid should be allowed to take at most 9 AP classes. AP classes should not have weighted grades. College Board should get rid of AP Physics 1, 2, AP Environmental Sciences, AP Statistics, AP Economics, AP Psychology, and the likes. Besides, each EC should be limited to at most 6 hours per week (including music and sports).
I understand that there are parts of the country which are like a “rat race” to many, but there are also many parts of the country where it is very difficult to provide any challenge to your child without significant effort. At least if you are in those challenging states/districts you have the choice to participate or not.
I do not think public schools can put an end to excessive advancement as much of the advancement will be done via online courses I believe. If the public schools stop the advancement then the kids will just be shut out of the challenging courses in colleges (if not shut out of the more elite colleges entirely) since many Asians will continue to ensure they are advanced.
" Besides, each EC should be limited to at most 6 hours per week (including music and sports)." You’re joking, right? While our ECs could and should be significantly less timeconsuming (XC is about 18 hours per week for JV, somewhat more for varsity, especially at the end of the season), there is no way the ECs could be run on 6 hours per week. My daughter was excited to try a new sport, then decided not to when she thought about the impact of having 6-7, yes 7, required practices per week (“only” 6 in weeks when they have a meet).
Our school did away with finals and I hate it. The kids don’t learn how to study and have no experience doing so until they hit AP exams. They forget things much more easily from prior years because they didn’t do that extra review at the end of the year. It’s well known that repetition in seeing things aids learning and long term retention. In fact, our school makes our kids take a lesson on this study skill. And then excuses them from actually doing it.
No homework nights will obviously just lead to shuffling around the due dates for the same amount of homework. In any case, teachers should give a homework schedule so that kids can manage their time as is best for them. This makes “no homework” nights unnecessary and meaningless.
Restricting APs doesn’t help either. Forcing kids into classes that are too easy for them isn’t a good solution, either for those kids, or for the kids who need to be in regular classes.
But what is wrong with teaching APs the way they are meant to be taught and ignoring the fact that half the class has already taken the material outside of school? If they want to do that and miss out on half their life and be bored in class because they’ve already read the books and done the problems, it’s their problem. The fact that they have done so should not make it any more difficult for other students to learn the material in class and be successful–grade the classes on a regular scale, and don’t allow the students who crammed in advance to break the curve for other students. Maybe when they see that doing this ruins their summers and doesn’t get them any better grades than the other kids, they will ease up a bit.
I feel very sorry for the kids in districts which have been taken over by the cram school crowd.
^ Your sport rule would eliminate track & field completely. One invitational meet can last 6 or more hours, so there’d be no time left for the kids to practice! Not that I don’t like the idea in theory…
@TheGFG - My proposed 6 hour limit is an average for daily training by coach.
My idea is to help kids who play sports can also do well in academics and more kids can participate in sports. Right now there is huge imbalance in HS. Only few super kids can do well both in sports and academics. Most the athletic kids neglect academics and most of the kids concentrating on academics play no sports. Only few kids in the varsity teams can play sports.
The situation in this school district is such that kids take 9th grade history over the summer before 9th grade so that they can get 10th grade history in in 9th grade and thus squeeze in more AP classes during high school. Every class is at the highest level of challenge. Kids routinely take algebra over the summer before taking algebra, geometry over the summer before taking geometry, self teaching calculus over the summer so as to squeeze in multivariable calculus in 11th grade. All the while taking Kumon and other out of school opportunities to improve grade and course advancement. Each individual maneuver isn’t bad or damaging but a group of hundreds of kids competing to stay ahead of each other has created a stressful environment that those outside could not imagine. We know several kids who became suicidal even after graduating and moving on to their Ivy League prizes. Several. Plus ones we hear about second hand or are learning about through this article.
The education is first rate and that cannot be debated. But someone needs to put the brakes on somehow to preserve the sanity of these children.
Possibly no midterms or finals is not the answer. But a competitive chamber orchestra in 5th grade leads to many kids taking $100/hour private lessons starting in kindergarten so that they are ready to go in 5th grade. The Accelerated math test lead to kids in 1st grade getting private tutoring and endless workbooks to pass the test. A kids who has talent that is not fully developed in math or music is practically hopelessly behind by 4th or 5th grade.
Parents can choose to participate or not but the environment is toxic for the students. I am sure it doesn’t feel good to be the only one in your algebra class actually learning algebra when everyone else has already taken it (it happened). I am sure kids are nervous entering geometry when their parent refused to let them pre-take geometry the summer before. I am sure it is surprising to unsuspecting students and parents to find out that they are behind in history compared to their classmates. Who even thinks this stuff up!!!??? Higher GPA earned by taking spanish because it has honors (weighted) at level 2 and French doesn’t! The competition is endless.
Just wanted to paint a picture for those that think these kids will not suffer with a weak education- It won’t happen!