Starting next fall, dozens of public schools in eight different states will be pioneering a new program that involves “board exams” taken at the end of 10th grade. If students pass their tests, they can receive their high school diploma 2 years early and proceed to enroll in community college. Students interested in enrolling in a more selective college can choose to continue their high school coursework. The program, which was designed by the National Center on Education and the Economy, is based off similar systems seen in nations such as Denmark, England, Finland, France and Singapore. The program was introduced as a means to combat the fact that a staggering amount of students have to take remedial courses upon entering college. It aims to prepare students more effectively for college work and provide a kind of “goal” for high school coursework. The exams will hopefully provide a source of motivation for students to master their course material.
In many ways, this new program is similar to already existing early college programs, such as Middle College (at CSM). However, the significant difference is that this new program allows students to actually graduate a full two years early. Students who pass the board exams will not need to continue with any high school classes during what would have been their junior and senior years.
I have mixed feelings about this program. On the one hand, I feel like it is a proactive way to cutback on the number of students who require remedial courses. The fact that over a million college freshman take remedial courses each year is absolutely ridiculous! But, I feel that there are some definite flaws with the idea of the board exams. I think that one of the benefits of a typical high school education is that it forces you to take a well-rounded (in terms of subjects) course load all four years. High school is important for establishing proficiency in a variety of subject areas. With this new program, students will not have to take all the traditional classes. I think that students might actually end up having more trouble in college than before because they missed out their final two years of high school.
4 comments:
Well, if I was 2 years younger, I would definitely seize this opportunity. Apparently, 50% of California's students fail the respective exit exams and have to be placed in remedial classes as college freshman as you stated. However, I'm going to have to disagree with you here Sarah, respectively of course.
"I think that one of the benefits of a typical high school education is that it forces you to take a well-rounded (in terms of subjects) course load all four years. High school is important for establishing proficiency in a variety of subject areas. With this new program, students will not have to take all the traditional classes. I think that students might actually end up having more trouble in college than before because they missed out their final two years of high school."
But you said this before ...
"The program was introduced as a means to combat the fact that a staggering amount of students have to take remedial courses upon entering college. It aims to prepare students more effectively for college work and provide a kind of “goal” for high school coursework. The exams will hopefully provide a source of motivation for students to master their course material."
Sarah, there are only 4 traditional subject areas. Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and History/Government. All other classes are just electives. They may provide further understanding of a particular subject, but they're subjects that aren't as ... let's just say ... important. Will electives get you employed? Maybe ... but probably not. The only benefit of high school is social interaction in the realm of a classroom. That's it. The education in a public high school is undoubtedly inferior to a private school or home school. I am absolutely for this.
We also already have this program essentially to graduate years earlier. It is much less known but there are tests you can take that essentially give you a G.E.D. Jordan Grimes did this and he graduated a year earlier from Aragon and is now considered a college student at CSM. He is getting course credit that will go towards the college that he decides to transfer to.
I actually do not agree with graduating earlier and going to community college because I was told early on in the college process that this shows the colleges that you could not handle the stresses and social factors of high school which led that particular student to joining a community college or taking middle college classes exclusively. High school definitely has aspects that are completely pointless but a lot of it is just an experience and a way to take time until these students are psychologically socially, and academically mature enough to handle college life. I personally thought that I could graduate high school as after sophomore year and I still believe that, but I am content with the wait because I know it will pay off as it already has started to with my first college acceptance. There are reasons high school hasn't disappeared but I would not be surprised if in a hundred years the tradition was replaced by a better means of education.
I feel like they are only promoting this idea to save money on the student's next two years of highschool. Personally, I don't think students in tenth grade are mature enough to handle college. What about the students who don't pass? They will still be there at the school watching younger students pass them by. I don't like this idea at all. ;/
I completely agree with you Sarah. I don't know how I feel about this new system. Now this could just be because we are so used to the system that we currently have that a change so drastic seems strange; however, I don't think it would really benefit students to graduate 2 years early. I think that those 2 years are essential in the students learning development, I know I am more mature than I was 2 years ago and I know very few people who I think could say otherwise. I also think there are things you experience in your whole 4 years of high school that prepare you for what lies ahead in college. I think that for those who would really like to take advantage of the opportunity to graduate a bit early and attend college courses, that option is out there already. Being 18 and knowing how fast high school and childhood in general goes by I see no need to hurry it up, and miss out on all the different courses and such that you mentioned Sarah. But who knows maybe that's just me.
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