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."
Back in the day when I was in high school (a year ago, thank you), Physical Education was a requirement for 3 of the 4 years, but in Junior year I was allowed to substitute a fine arts class for it, meaning I only took gym every other day for 2 years.
I hated every minute of it and it helped me very little in my everyday life, but we all had to go through it. There are set requirements to get a diploma, and knowing those requirements, this girl could have spoken to an academic dean or something and gotten that ironed out somehow.
Then again, she played varsity sports. My school USED TO allow varsity athletes to not have to take gym classes, and I still think it's a great idea that they did away with (not that I was one).
As much as I want to sympathize, she had an array of options and she knew the class was required, but chose personal interest electives over a mandatory course. I wonder what will happen if she gets to college and forsakes a core class or two because it isn't on her "priority list." She has to take some responsibility for this occurrance.
Having a GED will not hold her back at all.
My son skipped high school and took community college classes instead, so he'll have enough credits for his AA before the end of his high school years, but no diploma.
Solution, is to take the GED, at that point, and then they'll award him his AA.
I've spoken with the University he's transfering to and they said they couldn't care less whether he has a diploma or GED.
Like I said.. I'm sure she's smarter than all the educators and everybody else. Right....
"gym is a worthless class"
Physical fitness has no place in public education.
She got something better than a diploma. She got an education. Any idiot in an American HS can get a worthless piece of paper....
Spoken like a true sheep.
A public school is NOT an employer to this student. To blindly follow the dictates of the publik screwl bureaucrats, to your own detriment, is foolish in the extreme.
I'll bet this young lady knows the difference between bullsqueeze and job duties.
I believe the job description is "Designated Scapegoat"
I never find this to be a very convincing argument regarding anything. Lefties use this a lot: "It must suck to be you." It's an empty, snotty thing to say to anyone, IMO.
"You do what you're suppose to do to "make the grade". Learning that is more valuable than AP Biology."
Personally I think a little "questioning authority" can be a good thing. I speak from experience -- my daughter was in a similar situation when she had to withdraw from P.E. due to an unexpected need for jaw surgery, thereby not only losing almost a quarter of P.E. time she'd already put in (the school refused to give her any credit and wouldn't work out an alternative she could do, like a walking program), but the H.S. wanted her to skip an AP college track class later on to make up the P.E. Suffice it to say, sometimes the bureaucratic intransigence can be very frustrating and needs shaking up. In our case, we finally "negotiated" a "settlement" whereby they granted her the disposition to take an extra period for a semester so she could take both the P.E. and the AP class (it was like pulling teeth to get them to agree).
In this case, it sounds like the student decided that what she would learn in the AP Biology class was more valuable to her, and to her prospective colleges, than a semester of P.E. Yes, learning to "play the game" is important -- we've all done that at times in our lives, I'm sure -- but so is learning to weigh one's options, think critically, and evaluate a course of action that will provide the best life experience, even if it's "outside the box" and goes against the bureaucratic "rules."
I was wrong, deacon. You aren't a sheep, you're a fool.
I'd bet she doesn't. I'd bet she's been raised by parents who told her all her life.... "you don't have to do that princess if you don't want to"
I'd bet she has some real awakenings waiting ahead of her.
Does my being a Deacon bother you?
Doesn't even sound like it is a gym class but this Building Essential Skills for Tomorrow - probably is a PE credit.
Sounds like one of those dumbing down classes. They probably tote the egg around, learn how to balance a checkbook, flip off the man, etc.
Here's what I don't understand about the argument on this string: it would make sense to insist on following the rules if she actually HAD to follow them, and was whining because she didn't, and then got spanked. But her college actually didn't care, and didn't insist on the diploma, so in the end she didn't suffer for taking bio instead of gym. Given that, what's the point of insisting on following the rule when it wasn't even required by what turns out to be "the system" -- namely the college she's going to? I'm all for rules when they're necessary, perhaps even if they may be dumb, but I hate having to follow them when they're BOTH dumb AND it's not even necessary. That seems the case here.
Well, there you have it....
I agree. After reading all of kjam's post's - a person with that attitude would not last ONE day in my company (no, not mine).
Lot's of "free spirits" out there that think the rules are meant for the 'lessor' ones, can't possibly apply to me.
Then reality rudely interupts with a smack 'long side the head........
YOU ARE FIRED!
Best of luck to this kid.
My bet is that she will end up a professor at some 'extinguished' lib / rat hole "higher" institute of learning.
Or a politician.
LVM
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