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."
Spoken like a good postal employee....
LOL... Don't work for the post office. But I am pretty successful. Is that a problem?
Well, if she gets to college (and hopefully succeeds there), she could tell her high school where to shove their requirements.
Better to attempt and fail than to be a dog begging for scraps at master's table....
Yep. I had to make the same calculation. It didn't occur to me that I could try to play chicken with the administration.
Intellectualism is for those Euroweenies! We're America, and proud to be anti-intellectual!
</sarc>...but too true
"She's in for a surprise someday when she tells her boss... "why would I do that project? It just isn't on my priority list". The simple answer is you take what you're suppose to so you get the degree. But I'm sure she knows better than everybody else."
I doubt this would ever happen. She clearly knows what she needs to do to succeed.
In many high schools, including the one from which I graduated, AP classes also had the same extra weight on the GPA that an "honors" course did. While an "A" in most classes was a 4.0, an "A" in an AP or honors class was a 5.0.
Public schools ping..........RME........
Better to be the masters #1 in charge than to start your own and fail. There is no glory in failing at business. You've been successful.. and that's great. But that doesn't mean this gal will be.
Many schools give bonus points towards GPA. At my school it was one full point on the 4.0 scale. And other cases have had students become Valedictorian solely because a waiver kept them from being forced to take PE classes.
In high school, one student who was one year behind me kept applying for early admission to college and got accepted in my Pre-Med year class. He then started applying early to Med School and again got accepted one year early.
The only diploma he ever got in his life was his M.D. (That one, you actually need.)
This week, my wife was talking to the local public high school about some courses our daughter might take as electives. When they mentioned "graduation requirements", my wife told them that story and what I thought about diplomas and the subject was dropped.
Not entirely true. Yes, it gives college credit, but it also is generally higly rated in the calculations for class rank. An A in AP Calculus is worth a lot more than an A in gym class. Thus, there are those who used tricks like this to up their class rank percentage.
Yep... but she couldn't figure out how to get a highschool diploma on time.
Damn straight the kid should have to take gym---why the hell would a real educator want the kid to take an AP class.
I guarantee one other thing, these educators whine about the lack of parental involvement, but when this mom showed up they treated her like sh*t and behind closed doors bitched endlessly about that damn mother trying to tell the great educators what was best.
One of mine took an AP class from a teacher who didn't know anything about the class. The principal and school board office could have given a damn. When I spoke up at a public school board meeting, fully half of the board members were asleep or picking their noses.
Lesson learned, educators care about getting by each day without controversy and drawing another day closer to retirement.
Home schooling is the only way to go---you'll have a teacher who at least gives a damn.
"But all of life is about dumb rules drawn up by somebody else. Learning that at 17 is better than learning it at 45. Her mom didn't do her any favors. You do what you're suppose to do to "make the grade". Learning that is more valuable than AP Biology."
Wow. Your life must suck.
As a matter of fact I've been incredibly blessed. But the fact is that our society is full of rules. Just get in your car and drive down the road. Go to Walmart and try to buy something. Life is about rules and playing the system. She just failed at that this time around. Maybe she'll get better at it. You think?
Most successful business people I know failed more than once before suceeding.
in any event, I commend this student for doing what she needed to do, to advance her life, over the inane requirements of this HS.
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