Where are the painfully average kids getting into college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

I asked my cousin who is a high school counselor at a public school what proportion of kids were in honors vs regular English classes. She said her school had 14 - 9th grade English classes. 10 were honors, 1 was regular, and the other 3 were co-taught classes listed as regular Ed. and it us when a special ed. Teacher and English teacher co-teach the class and the class is made up of half- special ed kids/half general Ed kids who aren’t on grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

I asked my cousin who is a high school counselor at a public school what proportion of kids were in honors vs regular English classes. She said her school had 14 - 9th grade English classes. 10 were honors, 1 was regular, and the other 3 were co-taught classes listed as regular Ed. and it us when a special ed. Teacher and English teacher co-teach the class and the class is made up of half- special ed kids/half general Ed kids who aren’t on grade level.

Exactly. So unless you are a special ed kid or a kid who is below grade level, the majority of kids are in honors and AP classes. Many of them don't require you to get a certain grade in the class below it. My son's school doesn't allow anyone to take any AP classes unless they get an A in the previous honors class. The honors classes are difficult. Even his regular classes have quite a bit of work. My neighbor is in the same grade as my son but goes to the local HS. She is in a few AP classes even though she got Cs in the previous class. Her mom said anyone can take APs. She has Cs in those classes now but every class she has taken in HS has been either honors or AP and she gets a full point grade boost for all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

Correct. And schools focus on GPA instead of the official AP exam scores to deflect from the fact most of the kids in these courses are not impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid isn't average. An average gpa would be between 1.7 and 2.3. an average SAT is about 1050.

No. The AVERAGE 12th grader in the US has an A- average GPA. Grade inflation is INSANE. This was in the USA Today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid isn't average. An average gpa would be between 1.7 and 2.3. an average SAT is about 1050.

No. The AVERAGE 12th grader in the US has an A- average GPA. Grade inflation is INSANE. This was in the USA Today.

That is why I do not understand how colleges can rank candidates without SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid isn't average. An average gpa would be between 1.7 and 2.3. an average SAT is about 1050.

No. The AVERAGE 12th grader in the US has an A- average GPA. Grade inflation is INSANE. This was in the USA Today.

That is why I do not understand how colleges can rank candidates without SATs.

A- is still a range, if tight. Rigor is the bigger differentiator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

I asked my cousin who is a high school counselor at a public school what proportion of kids were in honors vs regular English classes. She said her school had 14 - 9th grade English classes. 10 were honors, 1 was regular, and the other 3 were co-taught classes listed as regular Ed. and it us when a special ed. Teacher and English teacher co-teach the class and the class is made up of half- special ed kids/half general Ed kids who aren’t on grade level.

Exactly. So unless you are a special ed kid or a kid who is below grade level, the majority of kids are in honors and AP classes. Many of them don't require you to get a certain grade in the class below it. My son's school doesn't allow anyone to take any AP classes unless they get an A in the previous honors class. The honors classes are difficult. Even his regular classes have quite a bit of work. My neighbor is in the same grade as my son but goes to the local HS. She is in a few AP classes even though she got Cs in the previous class. Her mom said anyone can take APs. She has Cs in those classes now but every class she has taken in HS has been either honors or AP and she gets a full point grade boost for all of them.

This is going to vary by school. Just looked at the class report for my kids HS and it looks like for last year's 9th grade there were 10 Honors English classes, 10 Regular (2 of those very small classes so likely for Sp Ed), 4 for English Learners. So at this school about half the students are in honors. And, it was the same for seniors with half in some version of "English 12" with the other half in AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

I asked my cousin who is a high school counselor at a public school what proportion of kids were in honors vs regular English classes. She said her school had 14 - 9th grade English classes. 10 were honors, 1 was regular, and the other 3 were co-taught classes listed as regular Ed. and it us when a special ed. Teacher and English teacher co-teach the class and the class is made up of half- special ed kids/half general Ed kids who aren’t on grade level.

Exactly. So unless you are a special ed kid or a kid who is below grade level, the majority of kids are in honors and AP classes. Many of them don't require you to get a certain grade in the class below it. My son's school doesn't allow anyone to take any AP classes unless they get an A in the previous honors class. The honors classes are difficult. Even his regular classes have quite a bit of work. My neighbor is in the same grade as my son but goes to the local HS. She is in a few AP classes even though she got Cs in the previous class. Her mom said anyone can take APs. She has Cs in those classes now but every class she has taken in HS has been either honors or AP and she gets a full point grade boost for all of them.

This is going to vary by school. Just looked at the class report for my kids HS and it looks like for last year's 9th grade there were 10 Honors English classes, 10 Regular (2 of those very small classes so likely for Sp Ed), 4 for English Learners. So at this school about half the students are in honors. And, it was the same for seniors with half in some version of "English 12" with the other half in AP.

What school is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew says that only the dumb and/or badly behaved kids are in regular high school courses. Everyone else is in honors and AP courses and all of them get a grade bump.

I asked my cousin who is a high school counselor at a public school what proportion of kids were in honors vs regular English classes. She said her school had 14 - 9th grade English classes. 10 were honors, 1 was regular, and the other 3 were co-taught classes listed as regular Ed. and it us when a special ed. Teacher and English teacher co-teach the class and the class is made up of half- special ed kids/half general Ed kids who aren’t on grade level.

Exactly. So unless you are a special ed kid or a kid who is below grade level, the majority of kids are in honors and AP classes. Many of them don't require you to get a certain grade in the class below it. My son's school doesn't allow anyone to take any AP classes unless they get an A in the previous honors class. The honors classes are difficult. Even his regular classes have quite a bit of work. My neighbor is in the same grade as my son but goes to the local HS. She is in a few AP classes even though she got Cs in the previous class. Her mom said anyone can take APs. She has Cs in those classes now but every class she has taken in HS has been either honors or AP and she gets a full point grade boost for all of them.

This is going to vary by school. Just looked at the class report for my kids HS and it looks like for last year's 9th grade there were 10 Honors English classes, 10 Regular (2 of those very small classes so likely for Sp Ed), 4 for English Learners. So at this school about half the students are in honors. And, it was the same for seniors with half in some version of "English 12" with the other half in AP.

What school is this?[/quote

That's W-L, for seniors that should be AP or IB. Yorktown has a similar split -- 12 honors English 9 classes, 14 for Regular or ESL. Wakefield has a smaller proportion in honors -- 8 classes vs. 19 regular or ESL.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Class-Size-Report-Final.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads are distortions of reality and are pretty demoralizing. I teach a lot of college kids who are not standout high school students, and the assumption that kids need to be 4.0 rockstars with pristine backgrounds to be worthy of attending a college that is worth their time and money is preposterous. Plenty of kids who are average -- truly truly average -- make something of themselves in college, and their learning and my (and my colleagues) teaching has value and potential. Not every kid is and should be college bound. But certainly more kids are college worthy, and more colleges are worth attending, than DCUM makes it seem.

Thank you, good teacher.

+ infinity thx.

[Anonymous]

Drexel, Frostburg, Akron, Elon = why even bother? Go to trade school or try to become YouTube or Tik Tok famous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid isn't average. An average gpa would be between 1.7 and 2.3. an average SAT is about 1050.

No. The AVERAGE 12th grader in the US has an A- average GPA. Grade inflation is INSANE. This was in the USA Today.

That is why I do not understand how colleges can rank candidates without SATs.

A- is still a range, if tight. Rigor is the bigger differentiator.

Agree. They want to see the courses (rigor) and SATs. Otherwise a GPA alone means absolutely nothing.

[Anonymous]

My DS took regular English 3 out of 4 years in high school. He. Is not dumb or an English language learner. He has ADHD and just hates reading and writing. His test scores in English were decent (34/700) without prep or extra time and he had no issue with college acceptances or his freshman writing class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS took regular English 3 out of 4 years in high school. He. Is not dumb or an English language learner. He has ADHD and just hates reading and writing. His test scores in English were decent (34/700) without prep or extra time and he had no issue with college acceptances or his freshman writing class.

Relax. The PPs have mentioned that the regular classes are often for kids with special needs and that describes your DS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid isn't average. An average gpa would be between 1.7 and 2.3. an average SAT is about 1050.

No. The AVERAGE 12th grader in the US has an A- average GPA. Grade inflation is INSANE. This was in the USA Today.

It’s not grade inflation. It’s a dumbed down curriculum that most kids can manage.