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."
Why put up with the bureaucratic cr*p in college? Not at the rates they charge. Core requirements exist these days simply as an excuse to fund junk like Womens Studies/Gender Studies/Ethnic Studies, and English and History courses full of propaganda.
"Hopefully, she - and her mother - will have matured by then."
All the more reason not to accept academe's B.S.
Looking at her workload: calculus, AP biology, three letter sports, chior, band: I don't think there's any slack in her schedule
"Let's fact the facts - millons of kids nowadays look like Jabba the Hut. Why? Because they do not exercise at all!"
What three sports did Jabba the Hut participate in?
1. Tug of War
2. Hockey (He played goalie)
3. Football (Offensive Line)
Somehow I'm willing to bet the three sports this young lady lettered in were somewhat more athletic.
This is yet another one of those sob stories we get at this time of year involving high school students who can't seem to follow the rules and expect them to be bent or overlooked in their particular cases. And of course, in the unending struggle against the left-wing public school system, no conservative principle (such as discipline and respect for legitimate authority) is so sacrosanct as to not be sacrificed.
She didn't fail at anything. She is going to go to college, and before that she will have her ged. What exactly do you think she failed at? She knows what she wants, and needs, and isn't letting politicians( schoolboard) do her thinking for her.
Always going by the "rules" is not a good way to go through life. I got through it just fine by doing almost everything in life my way, and I survived quite well thank you.
I am an individual, being taught to be one from an early age, and proud of it.That doesn't mean I broke any laws, but it does mean that when something was better for me, not just the people I worked for, I took that road.
Being a team player most often means that the "team" screws the players and the player loses out.
In our recent past most Americans were also individuals but thanks to people like you who think we should all bow and scrape to our "leaders" whims Americans have lost a lot of their individuality, to our great loss.
I wonder if you really know how very foolish you sound. You must follow orders is all you suggest.
I was 15 when I started the 12th grade. I went to a severely subpar school and couldn't wait to escape. I skipped the 11th grade by taking 3 classes in summer school and was in college at 16.
How bad was my school? They spent 8 weeks teaching us nouns and verbs in the 12th grade. Most of the class acted like it was rocket science. I learned that stuff in the 4th grade at another school. My sister did the same thing as me 2 years later and they changed the rukes to prevent anyone else from doing it now.
Now if I had to quess which was more important, staying in this school or going to college at 16, which do you think I would choose? And this was in 1978. God knows I wouldn't last 3 years of high school in today's insane school enviroment.
You did well and I bet you are proud. I was 16 when I finished high school and 18 when I finished my AA at college with an extra 18 credits more than necessary.
It is NOT the school's business to determine if a student is fat. This story does not say she is overwight anyway. In fact, she lettered in 3 different sports. I don't think she is fat doing that.
Running Start is a wonderful program. I was lucky to participate the first year it started. I don't know what I would have done without it. I was bored to death in high school!
I wish the Running Start program had existed in my time. As is, I went to school continuiosly from the start of the 10th grade till the end of my first year of college.
10th grade
Summer school
12th grade
College summer school
freshman year of college
I guess you could say, I made my own Running Start program. I hated my school & my town and I wanted to escape. And I did. Moved out of home at 16 to college.
Never said there was; she simply chose what she wanted to do instead of what she was required to do, never mind that some of those courses are available in colleges and universities. How hard is it for a smart person to arrange a schedule to include the necessary courses? Think the higher institutions of education won't have a few requirements of their own?
I loved Gym Class in the 9th Grade... it was my last class of the day, so I'd usually show up for roll call, and then go home.
Come on now. How many small business owners want robots who blindly follow rules and don't point out when the rule is completely inappropriate.
Here the application of the rule was superflous. A good small businessman would have appreciated an employee pointing this out. Small businesses can't afford to waste time with BS. That kind of behavior is acceptable for large bureaucratic entities like school districts not successful small companies.
This reminds me of the story about the kid with the cell phone.
Schools don't want to produce kids who can think. They want kids who can follow orders.
equality of outcome.
not excellence of the individual.
the forced 'leveling' continues.
circumvention of the system, seems to be the key to our survival as a people, culture and nation.
these administrators shoot themselves in the foot by recording one more "drop-out" then they needed on their permanent record.
However, we should not necessarily assume that gym is less than worthless. Many gym classes are taught by coaches, who can be excellent mentors to young folks. More important, gym class can be a gateway into varsity sports.
Sports teams teach kids the value of self-discipline, suffering as a vehicle of self-improvement, sacrifice for a common good. All of which are Christian virtues, praised by St. Paul and St. Peter. Kids who are playing sports are less likely to go astray.
I see this youngster is going to Trinity College, not far from where I hang my hat. I wish her all happiness & success.
Of course it does... One of the problems with our system these days is that we have gone to a "checklist" form of graduation, not where a student must go through a "defense" to demonstrate actual competence. This "must take gym class" rule is a way to help bureaucrats and those who don't want us daring to check real ability of students.
If senior Physical Education was a "real" class and provided necessary information, then there would be no question (being lettered in three sports does not guarantee she knows anything about certain aspects of P.E.)...but I doubt that's the case. And in such an event, it would be nice for them to allow certain exemptions.
Disclaimer: I "placed out" of Physical Education class in college with a varsity letter.
Where's your evidence that this is the case? From what I've seen, physical education class participation doesn't seem to prevent obesity. Do you have actual data to contradict that or are you trolling?
See my post, three above this one..
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