I met a girl last night, she is a high school senior

[Taso]

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Her parents have done her a disservice by not insisting she work to her capabilities.

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Her parents are letting her lead her own life. If she wanted to take AP courses, and think for herself, and learn more than one side, she could have. The only thing the parents should have done was say, "I think you'd do great in this class", nothing more.

[Jon1000]

i think you're drastically overestimating the value of better classes at a high school level preparing you for better classes at the university level. i finished top 10ish in my high school class, but came into college w/ about a year's worth of AP credit. The classes in high school were great, but in terms of preparing me for university courses . . . pretty meh.

edit: additionally i got into a pretty competitive college program that is basically a school of IR, but if I could do it again i would have just played the game and taken comparatively easier classes with comparatively less competitive peers in a regular government program. after i graduated and job hunted, i just realized how little most employers cared. even within higher academia, i doubt people care

[DLizzle]

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I don't like your school's system at all. There's already the prom king and prom queen for that, not to mention the entirety of the rest of high school. Your school's system basically makes the distinction of being valedictorian meaningless.

And 80% average is enough to qualify? Not impressive on that front either.

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the only responsibility of a valedictorian is make a speech at graduation correct? How is getting the best mark a good qualification for that? How is a vote not?

[Coffee]

[Jon1000]

b/c valedictorians are generally chosen based on objective academic criteria, like GPA. there's nothing wrong with the way your school does it, but it might sound to some like everyone gets a trophy day. kind of a celebration of almost excellence.

[ElSapo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Her parents have done her a disservice by not insisting she work to her capabilities.

[/ QUOTE ]

Her parents are letting her lead her own life. If she wanted to take AP courses, and think for herself, and learn more than one side, she could have. The only thing the parents should have done was say, "I think you'd do great in this class", nothing more.

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I don't know. I don't have kids, but don't they tend to not always have the best judgement, often misplace priorities and look to their parents to help prepare them well for life?

[hyde]

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Her parents have done her a disservice by not insisting she work to her capabilities.

[/ QUOTE ]




Her parents are letting her lead her own life. If she wanted to take AP courses, and think for herself, and learn more than one side, she could have. The only thing the parents should have done was say, "I think you'd do great in this class", nothing more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know. I don't have kids, but don't they tend to not always have the best judgement, often misplace priorities and look to their parents to help prepare them well for life?

[/ QUOTE ]



Insisting was the wrong word. I should have used encouraged. I personally would have encouraged or bribed....



Parents who think a 14 year old should be leading their own life are mistaken. They are just beginning to think for themselves. It is a tricky age where you are beyond the " Because I said so!" age and into a more subtle form of guidance where you leave them thinking they actually came to the right conclusion on their own. Very tricky...

[Bostaevski]

My high school is so awesome that we had 2 valedictorians. There were only 50 graduation seniors.

Valedictorians tend to be pretty boring people imo.

[whiskeytown]

we had three valedictorians in a HS class of almost 600 kids, I think - (Flathead High School was BIG) - and I remember being in a couple AP classes where these conversations always occurred.

By and large, colleges used to consider AP work more favorably then just an A in joe blow English 101, esp. if you get a high enough score to get credit. It's a more meaningful and objective symbol of knowledge.

(FYI, I got screwed in AP history - my essay question was about W.E.B. Dubois, and in MT no one had any idea who he was - LOL)

But I remember having these discussions in class - kids who would take a hit cause they were in Calculus instead of some other class, but our Valedictorians were all from the upper crust of nerddom - guess HS has changed a bit the last few years though - I'm sure C isn't an average grade anymore.

RB

[Taso]

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[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
Her parents have done her a disservice by not insisting she work to her capabilities.

[/ QUOTE ]




Her parents are letting her lead her own life. If she wanted to take AP courses, and think for herself, and learn more than one side, she could have. The only thing the parents should have done was say, "I think you'd do great in this class", nothing more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know. I don't have kids, but don't they tend to not always have the best judgement, often misplace priorities and look to their parents to help prepare them well for life?

[/ QUOTE ]



Insisting was the wrong word. I should have used encouraged. I personally would have encouraged or bribed....



Parents who think a 14 year old should be leading their own life are mistaken. They are just beginning to think for themselves. It is a tricky age where you are beyond the " Because I said so!" age and into a more subtle form of guidance where you leave them thinking they actually came to the right conclusion on their own. Very tricky...

[/ QUOTE ]

Parents forcing high schoolers to do stuff really pisses me off. I don't know, my parents didn't force me to do anything, I chose AP(ish, it's actually IB) for myself. They never talked to me about drugs, I don't do drugs. Etc etc etc

I find it amazing, the amount of students in my college classes that still can't think for themselves.