My son can’t handle taking all college level courses while juggling basketball, work, scouts and church leadership. But he also wants to be challenged more than typical level classes. A mix of honors and AP/DC classes is still needed for kids at GOHS!
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Deanna Bell
4 months ago
There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach, rather each individual student has different strengths and areas of growth and schools should do their best to tailor their offerings for the good of their entire student body, not just the top academic performers.
Students who are no longer able to take honors classes that have been historically offered will be at a disadvantage compared to other schools and other districts who offer those honors classes. The GPA boost that honors classes give matters and students at our school will be less competitive when applying to different colleges compared to students at other schools who had the opportunity to take honors classes.
Colleges are also looking more at the diversity of experience that potential applicants have, rather than just their academic success. Eliminating those honors classes will penalize students who participate in athletics and various other extracurricular activities who often miss class for competitions. These students should have the opportunity to take those honors classes instead of AP or dual enrollment classes where missing such classes would negatively impact their grade. Requiring students to go all in on academics rather than develop their skills and talents with their extracurriculars is short-sighted and unfair.
Not every student at Grand Oaks will attend university in Texas. The DC credits are not guaranteed to matriculate to all the possible colleges and universities that students may attend across the country. Not every student who takes AP classes will even take the AP test. And of the students who do, not all of them will pass or get a score high enough to count for college credit.
I know you said this change was to help prepare students to succeed in college. But the disadvantages of doing away with those honors classes along with the good course work and GPA boost that honors courses offer far outweigh the assumed benefits of such a change. The number of students
My son can’t handle taking all college level courses while juggling basketball, work, scouts and church leadership. But he also wants to be challenged more than typical level classes. A mix of honors and AP/DC classes is still needed for kids at GOHS!
There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach, rather each individual student has different strengths and areas of growth and schools should do their best to tailor their offerings for the good of their entire student body, not just the top academic performers. Students who are no longer able to take honors classes that have been historically offered will be at a disadvantage compared to other schools and other districts who offer those honors classes. The GPA boost that honors classes give matters and students at our school will be less competitive when applying to different colleges compared to students at other schools who had the opportunity to take honors classes. Colleges are also looking more at the diversity of experience that potential applicants have, rather than just their academic success. Eliminating those honors classes will penalize students who participate in athletics and various other extracurricular activities who often miss class for competitions. These students should have the opportunity to take those honors classes instead of AP or dual enrollment classes where missing such classes would negatively impact their grade. Requiring students to go all in on academics rather than develop their skills and talents with their extracurriculars is short-sighted and unfair. Not every student at Grand Oaks will attend university in Texas. The DC credits are not guaranteed to matriculate to all the possible colleges and universities that students may attend across the country. Not every student who takes AP classes will even take the AP test. And of the students who do, not all of them will pass or get a score high enough to count for college credit. I know you said this change was to help prepare students to succeed in college. But the disadvantages of doing away with those honors classes along with the good course work and GPA boost that honors courses offer far outweigh the assumed benefits of such a change. The number of students