S/O Building a Rigorous HS Experience Outside the Magnets
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Anonymous
Then you take exams like AMC, and colleges know you are far above the people who only have school transcripts with minimally rigorous courses. |
Anonymous
Be the change! Make a Wix/Sites/Drive/DropBox and post the content from your kid's Canvas! (Add a PayPal tip jar to make it worth your while.) |
Anonymous
this is not going to help much. the content is out there in one form or another but the key to the magnet is selection so that they can skip classes and teachers can go faster/deeper. your best bet at the regular school is to load on APs and hound teacher to let the kid skip intro classes |
Anonymous
I was a magnet parent as well, and I don’t think that is a workable alternative. Too much of the program is classroom dependent - lectures and demonstrations, equipment and materials, peer collaboration, etc. I do think MCPS should expand the magnet program. In the meantime, if a motivated student wants more challenge than AP or IB, Dual Enrollment might be a better alternative. If they wanted to learn independently, they might be better served by using books designed for self-study and by taking advantage of online resources. Many colleges provide free access to recordings of class lectures. There are also online and community groups like math circles, programming forums, clubs, etc., for specific interests. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/partnerships/dual-enrollment |
Anonymous
| This thread was brought to you by: AoPS |
Anonymous
I'm the OP and it's not. It is a genuine attempt to get the information that high school counselors seem reluctant to provide. Right now, outside the magnets, the only differentiated classes are math and social studies for 9th and 10th grades. There are ways to get around this, like skipping Honors Biology and moving directly to AP Bio, but counselors won't share those paths. This thread is an attempt to share information and AVOID having to pay for things like AoPS by letting other parents know what is possible. |
Anonymous
It's out where? |
Anonymous
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Take the necessary honors science and math classes before AP classes. This rush for all kids take AP classes in 9th grade really is bringing down the level of the classes.
I really wish teachers would just teach them at the correct level so this madness would stop. |
Anonymous
it is out there in form of khan academy, college textbooks, YouTube, coursera offerings etc. there a lot of ways to access knowledge. they are not learning some secret stuff at smcs. however they are not wasting their time in school and they have teachers and peers who are ready and willing to move faster. that part you can't get outside of being in magnet itself. |
Anonymous
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The problem is that schools aren't set up for a small group of students to take an alternative path.
A few years ago, our school allowed (by petition) for students to skip honors bio and go straight to AP bio. Same for Chem, I think, but that was less popular. They did this for a couple of years, and then the AP-arm's race took over and every kid aspiring to a top university tried to join this path (because if they didn't, they thought they would be 'behind' their peers on college applications). Such a practice worked fine for a small group of kids who could succeed without the prereq. But when lots of kids wanted to do it, it simultanously created a lot of kids not doing well and also watered down the experience for the kids who wanted to the more rigorous experience. (It's fine and dandy to say teachers shouldn't slow things down to accommodate less prepared kids, but it doesn't really work that way.) After a couple of years of allowing this, the school ultimately went back to enforcing the prerequisite strictly. Over the last 5 years, I've never heard of a kid successfully skipping the honors prereq. If schools can figure out an objective way to really assess kids for skipping prereqs (maybe a placement test), a more rigorous pathway would really open. But so far, they've never done this effectively-- at least at our school. The way this has worked out REALLY well in my opinion is on the physics track. AP Physics 1 is a great and more rigorous alternative to honors physics. It would be great if bio and chem had a similar class--much more rigorous than the honors version, but not skipping straight to the advanced AP version of the science class. |
Anonymous
OK sure, me an my 14 year old kid will cobble together an advanced enriched education by.... Stumbling around YouTube. Khan Academy is lovely, but it targets thr minimum-level, not targeting high-academic+level students. |
Anonymous
If only a school could figure out how to obtain a test to determine if a student and mastered prerequisite content! Such a big ask! Where could they find such a thing? AP Physics 1 is not more rigorous than honors physics. It is focused on mechanics instead instead of mechanics+E&M/waves. AP Physics is a 2 year course, which of course is more educational than a 1-year honors physics course. Honors physics + AP Physics C (both halves) is more rigorous than AP Physics 1+2. |
Anonymous
Who keeps telling this lie about AP Physics 1. Unless you’re in a magnet program, AP Physics 1 is not more rigorous. And because half the kids haven’t gotten to Pre-Cal it’s impossible for it to be. It’s Algebra based. Both AP Physics 1 and AP Pre-Cal should be stopped since most colleges are not giving credit for either. This is how we get 9th graders trying to take AP classes. And while some scientist do think Physics should be taken first, this course is not more rigorous as kids Algebra skills are not deep enough for it to be. |
Anonymous
DC is very high achieving (stratospheric scores, a cabinet full of academic awards) and they love khan academy. they learned a lot there. don't be a snob. |
Anonymous
I mean, yes. People are trying to work inside the status quo, which is painfully slow Honors Biology for a year, followed by another year of painfully slow Honors Chemistry. It would be great to maybe compress those if they don't want kids skipping. 2 semesters to cover both? |