Reply to HB Woodlawn provides unfair advantage to students for college since no intensified classes

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Reply to "HB Woodlawn provides unfair advantage to students for college since no intensified classes"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester. [/quote]
This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load. 
[/quote]

No I'm saying I never took [b]hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language [/b]in the same semester [u]in college[/u] and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student [/quote]

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical. [/quote]

Oh no language so that’s true. [/quote]

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes. [/quote]

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP). [/quote]

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro
[/quote]

OK well I still don't think a high school junior shouldn't be under pressure to do that kind of work to be [i]get into[/i] college, and if a kid is taking more than 14 APs in high school (which is the assertion made that started this discussion) then something somewhere is broken [/quote]
I don't know what to tell you, PP.  The world has changed.  The state flagships that kids used to be able to get into with 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two are now only accepting kids with 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs.  The 3.5 GPA, 1100 SAT kids can still go to college, but it will be a 2nd or 3rd tier state school or less selective private.  And that's fine.  THOSE KIDS WILL BE FINE.

OP somehow thinks that HB kids are slacking and still getting into t-20s, and this is not the case.[/quote]

I know there is a difference between 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. I'm saying there isn't a difference between 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 4 APs, especially if you are an upper middle class kid with college educated parents coming from Arlington Virginia, and the parents and kids that stress themselves out taking that heavy a courseload junior and senior year are doing themselves a disservice, at the end of the day T20 admission is pretty much a lottery.

Its a lot of pressure during the school year, its a lot of pressure at exam time, and its a lot of pressure at application time--kids feel like they a) failed or b) wasted their high school years if/when they don't get into the top schools, which most won't just due to numbers. Why set up your kid for that, when they could have a more balanced experience, more realistic expectations (genuinely treat T-20 schools as a reach and not something they are entitled to because of their grades/scores), and better mental health? [/quote]

If you are OP, that's an entirely different subject than you posted originally. The original premise was that kids at HB have an unfair advantage and don't have to take as many AP classes as others for their schedules to be considered of highest rigor. That statement is false. (If you're not OP, then my comment doesn't pertain to you. I happen to agree that the arms race is ridiculous and too much pressure. I just don't want anyone to think that kids at HB aren't experiencing the very same things that kids at other high schools are. They just have fewer options. That's the only difference.)[/quote]

+1 from another HB parent. Same pressure. If anyone thinks HB kids are a bunch of low-key slackers, think again. My HB senior took 9 AP classes, and many kids took even more. I know of one student who took SIX AP classes at one time. [/quote]

My non-HB kid is will have taken 8 AP classes by graduation, 5 of them as a senior - despite the 20-whatever AP classes offered. I think OP is off their rocker and ignorant of what the majority of students are taking. Yes, there is what is probably a relatively small % of students taking egads of AP level courses. But I don't see how any student can even fit 20 AP classes into their 4 years. If HB only offered 2 or 3 AP classes, I could start to see a disadvantage relative to other Arlington high schools. But they don't. They offer more than most students at any high school end up taking. [/quote]

This is exactly it. My HB senior did not take ALL of the AP classes available. [/quote]

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