Reply to Honors classes vs regular classes in high schools

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[quote=Anonymous]They are supposed to be more difficult in terms of going more in depth into the material, and require more or more advanced work. Honors courses will frequently require longer writing assignments, or be held to a higher standard of work than the non-honors course because it is assumed that the student in honors has more interest in the subject and stronger academic abilities. I don't know the extent to which the courses actually are more difficult or more interesting than the non-honors version, but that is the theory and the claim.

Another consideration is that honors courses in English and History usually have summer assignments that must be completed, while non-honors versions might not depending on the school. So during the summer between 8th and 9th grade a student entering honors is likely to have a few required reading assignments that will count in his/her 9th grade honors class's first quarter grades. If you think this will be a sticking point for your kid, it is something to consider.

The major benefit aside from maybe a more challenging/enriching academic atmosphere, is that being on the honors track in 9th allows the student to take the most rigorous courseload he/she can, which looks good to universities, who often consider rigor of courses in admissions decisions. Also, the honors track allows students to take AP courses in junior and senior (occasionally sophomore) year. These are considered "college level" classes taught to high school students and at the end of the course students can pay to take a standardized exam over the course material that may or may not give them college credit (depending on the score they receive and the college they go to).

Hope this helped.[/quote]

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