Facing challenges at school (AP classes are racist)

The Raleigh News-Observer ^ | 1/29/04 | Rick Martinez

[Howlin]

The students are all there because their parents want them to be there. I had to apply and basically win the lotto to get them in.

That is exactly what I did with Drew -- and that was back in 1978; at this traditional school, they had rules, and homework, and the parents HAD to participate. We also had no special "help," so if you were LD you had to go back to your home school; want band, back to the homse school. They were self-contained classrooms, too.

When the school started, they gave us the absolute WORST school in the entire city, in the worst neighborhood; the parents redid the whole school with OUR money, furnished the rooms, etc.

Not only that, but we went door to door in the projects, asking the parents to enroll in the lottery so that their kids could WALK to school; no takers; the only blacks that were in the lottery were children of professionals in the western part of the city.

Do I even have to tell you what happened? After the first year, and the scores shot through the roof, beating everything in the state, here came the NAACP, wanting to know why we didn't have enough blacks. When we documented our efforts, that wasn't enough.

So the next year, we had to give a few more places to any and all blacks that wanted to attend. Of course, we STILL didn't have enough black applications from the neighborhood to suit them, so they started demanding other stuff.

First, they wanted us to stop our children from wearing uniforms.

Then they wanted BAND -- but ONLY for the kids from the neighborhood.

Homework, forget about it?

Grade three, I sent Drew to Our Lady of Grace.

[McLynnan]

So the AP kids are bored stiff and the lowest ranks STILL don't get it.

Exactly my experience too. In the early elementary years we lived in a district that had an excellent GT program, but when we relocated to Texas things went downhill. The GT program here was not really for "gifted" children. Those children were ignored. The GT program was for the top 25% academically. The regular ed classes were for everybody else. True gifted students only make up about 3% of a student body, but here they call the top 25% gifted.

[MonroeDNA]

This is why liberals HATE home schooling.

It's just not fair that some families (cultures) work better at making smart people than others.

[AnAmericanMother]

My daughter's college gave my daughter a semester's credit based on her scores on 4 AP tests. She's still spending 8 semesters there, but it lowered her stress level significantly and she got to take a couple more classes in her major and she got to lighten her load a couple of semesters.

Exactly what I did - and boy, is it worth it! I got out of the elementary classes in my language (so I didn't have to sit bored to tears in a class with people who HADn't had 6 years of the language already), and I was able to AP out of science altogether (the college did not require any math for non-engineers). That meant I was able to take more courses in my major (history), take a new language just for grins, and take courses that I simply had an interest in out of my department (like four semesters of Classical Archaeology!)

I highly recommend getting all the AP credits you can.

[Lee'sGhost]

Wow. I think this deserves a new bumper sticker.

"My kid's an advance student at XXXX High!

Your kid goes to stupid class in Chapel Hill.

[Enterprise]

I have made a similar point in the past, and I believe Thomas Sowell said something similar in a column once. In essence, if I were a racist, I wouldn't join the Klan, I would be a liberal and join the Democrat party because that is the best way to make sure minority students get an inferior education. Further, why be a racist and demand that minority students be kept out of schools, when you can be a Democrat and get nearly the same result?

[Kay Ludlow]

The GT program here was not really for "gifted" children. Those children were ignored. The GT program was for the top 25% academically. The regular ed classes were for everybody else. True gifted students only make up about 3% of a student body, but here they call the top 25% gifted.

Our school district hasn't had a gifted program for decades. They take the (ludicrous) position that ALL their classes meet the state requirements for gifted education, therefore they don't need a gifted program.

Needless to say, there's a lot of boredom among the brighter kids, and a healthy group of businesses providing after school classes to prep for SAT's, etc.

[Enterprise]

I think there are any number of stories like your daughter's where bright students have to fight and scrap for scholarships, and less qualified students get more aid, out of "fairness."

There is something peculiar going on today though regarding minority education. There was a time when minority students were denied the opportunity for an "equal" education, and the civil rights movement was successful in integrating them into "white" schools, and I guess it was to ensure that they would then get an "equal" if not better education than they got in predominately minority schools. The civil rights movement, at least in North Carolina, seems to be demanding that some students be denied the opportunity for educational advancement. And that is simply astonishing! But the only remedy for parents of students who are going to be denied AP classes because their students are smart and want to excel is to begin a civil rights movement of their own and fight like tigers for their children. Remember, a mind is a terrible thing to waste!

[spacewarp]

In 1987-88, in Florida, I was able to "dual-enroll" where I was full time in the local community college and considered a full-time student. My GPA for my 12th grade year was to be based on the average over my 12-15 credit hours per semester as if I took 7 courses. So, with a 3.9 GPA for the 27 credit hours, I received 27 college credit hours, as well as a 5.9 for 7 classes for the year. It brought my HS GPA to a 4.67.

I "went" to my 4th year of HS at their remote site, the community college.

[Reactionary]

Ah, yes. The egalitarian socialist fanatics in education are again instituting a policy of forced equality. Since they're delusional fantasy doesn't exist in reality, they don't mind punishing the intelligent and gifted to achieve their moral goal.

It's all for the children - and some children are more equal than others (namely the stupid).

[Robert A Cook PE]

1-1/2 years ago, Paulding Cty school district, Dallas GA: (She's 18 now, with senior college credits, a dual math and physics major, at the Southern Poly Tech SU, graduating next May.)

She too, was bored silly in regular classes, but loved the college stuff.

And it didn't hurt her feelings at all when she realized she could sleep in 5 days a week till 9:00, 10:00, or 11:00, arrange her schedule to get all afternoon classes, and only go to classes 2 days a week for two hours each instead of 5 days a week all day every day!

[Robert A Cook PE]

What school district?

[Robert A Cook PE]

Get thee into real college classes! 8<)

[TLI]

No Child Gets Ahead

Ain't that the damn truth!

[McLynnan]

That is definitely a "ludicrous" position on their part. Soon the only bright or gifted children who will get a good education will be those with well to do parents who can pay for private school. Here in Texas, Governor Perry plans to pay schools a bonus for certain at risk students who pass courses. This is also ludicrous. Why do we have to pay bonuses to schools to do their jobs? If the kids don't pass, either fire the teachers if they are responsible, or hold the kids back if they don't deserve to pass. Here's his proposal in a nutshell:

A proposal by Gov. Rick Perry would give Texas high schools more money when at-risk students pass an algebra test and a standardized state assessment test. The proposal calls for schools to receive an extra $100 for each student passing an end-of-course Algebra I exam. At-risk students who pass the exam will earn $200 for the school. Schools will receive another $100 when students who speak limited English pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test; $200 for each student who receives a commended performance on all sections of the TAKS. About 600,000 students in Texas speak English as a second language.

[McLynnan]

That's terrific for her, and you must be very proud of all her work!

[briant]

I agree. That my theory of much of what goes on in our government.

[Kay Ludlow]

State College Area School District

[GiveEmDubya]

""Get thee into real college classes! 8<)""

Got some of those too...I'm taking an English bridge course from Marist College...

Oh, you meant REAL college. Believe me, it can wait until September. I need the extra time to cease being 5'7"...

[Kay Ludlow]

Gov Perry's plan sounds like an invitation to cheat. Something else our school district did, was discourage students who were from foreign schools from taking the standardized tests saying it would skew the scoring. It would have too - students who transferred from High School in other countries were far ahead of our own students. They'd attend school because it's compulsory, but their parents made them keep up with work from their own country so they didn't fall behind.