Sequential electives

[Anonymous]

A sequential elective makes complete sense. It’s teaching kids that you reinforce knowledge by continually building on what you’ve already mastered in that subject, which is a great skill for a career and life. Way better than bopping around a bunch of random 1-semester electives that don’t allow for true depth and real learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m now stuck on the virtual class requirement. APS says that is fulfilled in economics or AP Econ. Seriously - there’s no in person option to take AP Econ? I didn’t take that in high school but I was an Econ major and that would have been really hard to take online. Is there another way?

I am surprised at the number of requirements (4 years of math is okay - 1 virtual class or sequential ones are both weird requirements). My kid is coming in with 5 high school classes and I’m still a little worried about how to fit it in.

And they should get PE credit for sports or marching band.

AP Econ is in person. It somehow fulfills the virtual requirement anyway. Maybe part of the class is virtual, but still in person. If you look at the CRF, there are 3 econ options: Econ, Econ Virtual and AP Econ. FYI: AP Econ has 2 AP tests at the end of the year: 1 Micro & 1 Macro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A sequential elective makes complete sense. It’s teaching kids that you reinforce knowledge by continually building on what you’ve already mastered in that subject, which is a great skill for a career and life. Way better than bopping around a bunch of random 1-semester electives that don’t allow for true depth and real learning.

Almost all classes, including electives, are full-year. Sequential classes aren't all semester courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A sequential elective makes complete sense. It’s teaching kids that you reinforce knowledge by continually building on what you’ve already mastered in that subject, which is a great skill for a career and life. Way better than bopping around a bunch of random 1-semester electives that don’t allow for true depth and real learning.

Nope. They are already building on what they learned in math, science, English, history, and foreign languages. Electives should be about exploring several different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m now stuck on the virtual class requirement. APS says that is fulfilled in economics or AP Econ. Seriously - there’s no in person option to take AP Econ? I didn’t take that in high school but I was an Econ major and that would have been really hard to take online. Is there another way?

I am surprised at the number of requirements (4 years of math is okay - 1 virtual class or sequential ones are both weird requirements). My kid is coming in with 5 high school classes and I’m still a little worried about how to fit it in.

And they should get PE credit for sports or marching band.

AP Econ is in person. It somehow fulfills the virtual requirement anyway. Maybe part of the class is virtual, but still in person. If you look at the CRF, there are 3 econ options: Econ, Econ Virtual and AP Econ. FYI: AP Econ has 2 AP tests at the end of the year: 1 Micro & 1 Macro.

Yes, apparently you can take Econ or AP Econ in person & part of it is virtual so it counts. We didn’t fully understand, and my kid took Econ the summer before 9th. But he does band so was glad to get it out of the way & free up space in his schedule (though it took a lot of time during the summer).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a dumb requirement. The purpose of electives is to try new things.

Totally dumb. As is the requirement to take an online class, plus 2 years of PE, plus personal finance in addition to 4 years of social studies, plus a million other things that weren’t required to graduate 25 years ago.

We had to take 4 years of PE.

It should be 0.

I think it should be 4 - but count documented physical activities outside of school and marching band. Some schools do actually give PE credit for marching band, and I'm not interested in starting a debate about that.

I think the online class requirement is stupid; but unfortunately, there is a high likelihood - even in college - that students will need to take at least one online course, or workers will do some sort of online training. So doing one in high school introduces students to how an online class operates. And a primary purpose of high school is to prepare students for what comes next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a dumb requirement. The purpose of electives is to try new things.

Totally dumb. As is the requirement to take an online class, plus 2 years of PE, plus personal finance in addition to 4 years of social studies, plus a million other things that weren’t required to graduate 25 years ago.

So, you're in the "high school is stupid" camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m now stuck on the virtual class requirement. APS says that is fulfilled in economics or AP Econ. Seriously - there’s no in person option to take AP Econ? I didn’t take that in high school but I was an Econ major and that would have been really hard to take online. Is there another way?

I am surprised at the number of requirements (4 years of math is okay - 1 virtual class or sequential ones are both weird requirements). My kid is coming in with 5 high school classes and I’m still a little worried about how to fit it in.

And they should get PE credit for sports or marching band.

Yes, there is. The virtual Econ/PF is not AP.
+100 re PE credit for sports and marching band!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A sequential elective makes complete sense. It’s teaching kids that you reinforce knowledge by continually building on what you’ve already mastered in that subject, which is a great skill for a career and life. Way better than bopping around a bunch of random 1-semester electives that don’t allow for true depth and real learning.

Nope. They are already building on what they learned in math, science, English, history, and foreign languages. Electives should be about exploring several different things.

I would have to agree with this. I don't understand the sequential elective requirement. But it isn't really that hard to complete since languages and music/art classes count, even science classes can count.