Posted on 05/08/2005 6:47:15 PM PDT by Born Conservative
BOW, N.H. - A decision to take Advanced Placement biology instead of gym will cost a Bow High School senior her diploma, but it won't keep her from going to college in the fall.
Though Isabel Gottlieb is a good student, a trumpet player in the school band and holds varsity letters in three sports, she discovered last fall she was one gym class shy of having enough credits to graduate next month.
She asked for a waiver, but the school wouldn't budge, telling her instead she had to drop a class to take gym.
"Why would I drop an AP biology class to take P.E.?" the 18-year-old said. "It's just not on my priority list."
The missing credit wasn't caught by the school last spring when Gottlieb's schedule was set. The class in question is called BEST, or Building Essential Skills for Tomorrow, and is required for all Bow students to graduate.
At the Seattle high school Gottlieb attended before moving to Bow before her junior year, gym requirements often were waived for students in varsity sports. But those waivers aren't something Bow High School is willing to accept.
"Waivers vary from school to school and they're not standardized at all," said Principal George Edwards.
Gottlieb added the class last year after the school told her she had to take it, but then dropped it when she found out it was too much on top of classes she was already taking, including two Advanced Placement classes and calculus.
Both Gottlieb and her mother said the school suggested dropping either band, chorus, AP biology or calculus. But she and her mother decided sacrificing any of those would have diminished the quality of Gottlieb's education.
"I'm trying to get into college and someone isn't going to want to see someone drop an AP biology class a month into the year in order to pick up P.E.," Gottlieb said.
There will likely be no compromises in time for graduation. The class is not offered in the summer.
And it may not matter. Gottlieb already has been accepted to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where she plans to major in biology.
Trinity is aware of Gottlieb's situation and said that as long as she gets her General Educational Development, or GED, in time, there won't be a problem.
Gottlieb said that she already has taken the practice test and, once she hears back on that, will schedule a time to take the official version of the high school equivalency test.
Meanwhile, her mother, Ashley Warner, is planning a "non-graduation" party for her daughter.
"We realized that not graduating wasn't the end of the world," Warner said. "But it took a long time to come to that conclusion."
I still quite remember my first month and a half of high school gym class was running. As in, around the school parking lot. As many times as we could. Yeah, we stretched first. Then weight lifting. Then volleyball. Then basketball. Then the coaches gave up by around March. The whole class was such a pointless waste of time.
I have friends in other colleges right now who have physical education requirements. I only realized that last week--beforehand, I thought when they told me they went to the gym, it was because they WANTED to!
**This is another example of why we have to get the government out of the school system.**
and the school system out of the government.
more and more of us are turning to private home schools and going the GED route, which trains the person in self-reliance and continual responsibility for self-training and improvement.
physical education is important, but if one could not really graduate without it, then all our physically handicapped students could justly be considered 'inferior'. and they are not.
in ten years, universities will be actively seeking home schoolers and private school students, instead of public school grads. And they will balance it racially, to avoid the accusations about THAT can of worms.
public education is finished in the usa, for everyone but the inner city families who are having to use it for baby sitting services.
it is the buggy whip of the 1950's.
I know your being sarcastic, but she has letters in 3 different sports.
The girl is an athlete on 3 different varsity teams, which, when you think about it, makes this even dumber.
that is a very WISE observation.
If you read the Bible as "carefully" as you read this news story, I'm glad I am not under your Deaconate.
She MET the requirements to graduate, where she was previously attending; then she transferred to a new school.
THAT school AGREED she met the requirements by not requiring the BEST class when they gave her her Fall schedule last Spring.
AFTER Fall classes started, they discovered THEIR error, and tried to stick it to her.
BOTH schools are in the same city, so she had a reasonable expectation that the requirements would be the same.
When I was in high school, decades ago, ALL public schools in the entire STATE had uniform minimum graduation requirements, which prevented this kind of fiasco.
Who here really wants to have an employee that doesn't value your arbitrary rules?
How many hire a person under one set of 'arbitrary rules' then arbitrarily change them, thus disqualifying the new hire, before they even start work?
probably a ww 2 program..
that said, not all who graduate can pass a GED.
you can graduate h.s. without being able to demonstrate functional literacy in some states.
since she has three letters, it is doubtful that she lacks physical activity, or is fat either.
stupid rules made by stupid people for stupid kids who are destined for failure.
smart kids and parents circumventing the system learn valuable lessons, primarily that success comes from circumventing the system... getting above the fray and staying there by whatever means necessary.
playing by rules that are patently stupid, under threat of force, is the socialist's key to maintaining perpetual mediocrity. This entire nation is ready to revolt against the socialist bureacracy on so many levels, it should be of concern to the 'we must have more rules' idiots running the asylums. But because they are stupid, they wont' figure it out till their school district is closed for lack of students and operating funds.
As fare as the girl's socialist phys ed requirement, she probably missed the phys ed/health class where they taught bananas and condoms 101...
kudos to this 'rebel' varsity sports, magna cum.... whatever. Welcome to trinity college.
truth is since the Kennedy era a HS student mUST complete 4 years of gym no matter what .Youcan't graduate without it ..It's been the law in NJ for years now.
I agree , most gym teachers are lame and they are political gift/do nothing jobs. Still the law is ( and it's absurd) that ALL HS kids HAVE to complete and pass 4 years of gym
But her failure to graduate is yesterday's news
Isabel Gottlieb was named a Commended Student in the 2005 National Merit Scholarship Program. She placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1 million students. Gottlieb is a senior at Bow High School.
If I was on the Bow High School board, Principal Edwards woUld have some 'splaining to do.
I think she went through school with the intent of getting a highschool diploma.
Hopefully, she - and her mother - will have matured by then.
"If I was on the Bow High School board, Principal Edwards woUld have some 'splaining to do."
Ha! Good research!
School admins in NH have been quite the idiots this year (Londonderry - banned yearbook photo of student holding trap shooting gun; some jr. hi. kicked a kid out of a holiday dance when he showed up dressed as Santa, ...).
It just strikes me funny that this intelligent young lady couldn't work out a schedule that met graduation requirements.
For the record, I did not like P.E., except for square dancing and archery.
"Yep... often they do. Often that company is a "landscaping company". Often it's a plumber. Or any sort of self-employed company because they can't work for people. But you're right now and then they actually start a legit company. And often they go bankrupt. That's life. Just because a person thinks they know more than everybody else, doesn't mean they'll be a sucess at life."
She's majoring in Biology. She'll be just fine.
She's getting a GED, and no one cares about what you did in high school once you graduate college.
God bless her.
"Yep... but she couldn't figure out how to get a highschool diploma on time."
Not according to her college of choice.
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