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School doesn't even start until next Tuesday and all ready they have us reading 54 page articles, writing essays, and filling out 11 page packets about the government. This is for an AP U.S. History class I'm taking. Anyone else take/taking AP classes?
it's stories and comments like that, that make me so glad i'm getting into the trades. i only have to go to school for what i need, thats all. though it has been rather hard finding a job.
It is a lot of work, but I really shouldn't complain - I love history, and by the time I'm done high school I'll have a lot of classes knocked out for college.
I'm not taking any AP classes this year, but I'm taking what we call Algebra 2 Extended which is Algebra 2 but it goes more in depth than the other Alg 2 classes, so it's like the AP math class (since we don't have any AP math until Calculus). We also have a required science class that all sophmores have to take that I managed to do last year as a freshman (basically if you can have an A for first semester of freshman science and you sign up for this little program, you can take second semester of sophmore science during the second semester of freshman year and skip sophmore science all together). So this year I'm taking Physics for my science class, and next year I'll be able to take an AP science class. But I may just end up doing Physics, Bio, and Chemistry for the last 3 years (since our AP science classes are 2 year courses).
When I took AP classes, I bombed both... they moved way too quickly for me. I'd rather learn the material well in a non-stressful setting than have high marks and cut twelve years off my life due to the stress, lol. But yeah, if you can handle 'em, good for you, I'm just not used to the work involved.
Well thanks to the No Child Left Behind act, EVERYONE in the US is going to college :rolleyes: , and that is how they will teach you... Just try to get into a trade school. A couple of years ago I was at one of the district school meetings with the SO and they were discussing bringing back Vocational training schools. Several parents got upset that the district would even _think_ of training their kids for low paying menial jobs instead of prepping them for college. A couple of the parents stood up and asked the parents what they did for a living and how much they made. A couple of them fessed up to being EE's, CS's and MBA's and all of them were making around $100k. The parent that asked about jobs got back up and told the parents that he was an electrician and made $150k /yr with just a HS diploma. They did not believe him. Another parent stood up and said he was a Machinist and he made $100k /yr + with only a HS diploma, and they started to take notice. A third parent stood up, told them he runs his own cabinet shop with just a GED and he makes almost $200k /yr and only works about 9 months out of the year. The parents shut up about "menial" jobs and agreed that not all kids are going to college. They still have not re-opened the Vocational School thanks in part to the No Child Left Behind act...Quote:
Originally Posted by Spawn-Inc
Congrats on being in the AP classes, it is hard work and if your plan is to go to college, it will be well worth it.
Do you mean the "No Child Gets Ahead" Act? That's part of what helped kill me in high school, they focused on those that don't give a damn and I got gipped when it came to computer related courses, that and I wasn't helped at all in AP Calc... hence why I got a 50%, but I"m proud of that 50.
And I guess from reading your post Airbozo, that not all need to go to college, hmm... curious.
I'm a strong believer in education, but at the same time I dont believe in college/university as the right thing for everyone.
Knowing what I know now, I wish I had gone to university/college, but at the same time I make a good living already (I'm only 27) and have loads of opportunity for training through my job.
When I look back at highschool now, I understand why you are required to take all those courses, even things that dont appeal to you.. it's all about exposure. Try a little of everything, and maybe something will stand out for you.
I have a friend who was a jock in highschool. He was terrible at most courses, but he was incredibly fascinated by chemistry and physics. After graduation, he managed to get into a chemical technology course, and now works as a chem-tech at an industrial chemical manufacturing company.
I was all about art and music in high school.. terrible at math, but good with anything creative. Looking back I realize that I didnt enjoy math/calculus and that's why my grades were poor in it.
Unfortunately in the US it is rare to see these kinds of classes in high school anymore since it is all about passing the high school exit exam. For instance, my SO's school is an Animation Magnet sponsored by apple, Disney and a couple of other companies. This is a school in the middle of gang central and to get into the animation courses you have to have at least a B average. Most kids in that school do not. Kids from out of the region transfer into the magnet program with good grades from other schools. Her campus also has a woodworking shop and a metal shop, but agian, to get into those classes you need a B average in the rest of your coursework. Not going to happen for most kids. The ones in metal shop or wood shop end up being the kids who have no intention of being a cabinet maker or welder. They just take the classes for fun and credit since they know it will be a slam dunk grade (not that the class is easy...).Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke122
I was personally thankful that High School was over (early for me), since it was getting in the way of me being able to support myself and my career. But I am glad I did go.
Our high school has 4 computer related courses. Computer Sciences 1 (HTML), VB1 and VB2 (Visual BASIC), and Programming (PASCAL). That's it (and why they're teaching us PASCAL I don't know... there are so many more useful languages...).Quote:
Originally Posted by xRyokenx
So, for half of my Junior and all of my Senior year, I'll be computer-less. Unless I take Computer Arts (which I will, I just didn't have time to this year).
Well, all the classes they had were more like "make a powerpoint and you've passed the class, for the rest of the time just waste the valuable time here surfing the web" type crap. But oh well, I'm kind of annoyed at everything for the moment, so I'll spare any (more) ranting.
At the school I went to for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, we did that stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by xRyokenx
Last year during CS1, me and my friend managed to do the entire course, plus all of the extra VB assignments with 3 weeks of school left. So, Flash 5 FTW! If they didn't have Flash on those computers, I would have died.
I'm taking AP american history too.amen to thatQuote:
It is a lot of work
What's AP?
Advanced PlacementQuote:
Originally Posted by Elenril
I took 4 AP classes in high school. History, English, Calculus, and Physics. In History I got a 2/6. Calculus I got a 3/6. Physics I got a 4/6(enough for college credit). In English I got a whopping 1/6, I think I probably misspelled my own name.
Even if you do well enough to get college credit, your not going to use it anyway. In college your constantly fighting to keep your GPA as high as possible. You do this by acing every easy class you can get away with while struggling through your core classes.
If you use an AP credit your skipping a class that you will probably get an A in. You'll need every A you can get, trust me on this one. Having gone to one of the hardest tech schools in the nation, I now know what hard classes really look like. 1/3 of new college students at big schools flunk out in the alloted semesters, usually 3. Don't put yourself behind the curve by taking credits up front.
Don't get me wrong. Still take the AP exams. It helps to see where you stand.
In my district, we are sort of splitting up the high schools into specialties. Currently, my school is the AP school. I am taking "pre-ap: (just means harder) classes, as the only true AP classes you can take are psych and human geography. Not being interested in either of these, I elected to take Pre-ap classes, do well in them, and inflate my head to only get popped junior year when I start to take REALLY hard classes.
But the school year is young. We will see what happens. Not having any idea of what I want to do go for college for, or even if i want to start my own business or just mope around the parents house until i inherit it, i am going to take some different classes and see what happens.
My current different class- video production. I can't wait, as this seems like an insanely fun class, and who knows, maybe someday quakken will be in showbiz.
On another tangent, we watched a thing about evil teachers unions in reading (no idea why) yesterday. Currently, in some districts, unions are making sure that you can't transfer schools for the better, and that they can't get fired. Making sure you can't transfer schools means that they have a bit of a "monopoly" on the teaching market, so they can afford to be below international school grade teachers without any fear of someone who is doing their job better taking their paycheck.
We also learned that our reading teacher isn't part of the union. Whodathunkit!
Aww, my school doesn't even have AP classes, but it is supposed to be amazing cause it features the bull**** class cisco. I took that in grade 11 and I think it is honestly the most corrupted class on earth. Cisco never updates the tests, and they're nearly 4 years old now, so you can get every answer on the internet. I didn't cheat and managed to get a 90%, while dumbasses who cheated ended up with 95% and never even learned what a router is. It's supposed to be a course that spans over grade 11 and 12 (CCNA 1 & 2 in grade 11, and 3 & 4 in grade 12). I think I'll just switch from cisco to biology this year and say screw it to CCNA 3 & 4. Employers must know by now that the certification is in reality worth nothing.
Im definitely not taking AP classes. I'm in Honors Algebra 2 this year (I'm a Junior), but thats about all. The way I figure is: I'll get A's and A+'s in normal and a 4.0+ GPA instead of B's in AP classes and a 3.5+ GPA. Colleges love 4.0's and above...
-Indybird
EDIT: 800 posts!!!!!!!!!! :banana:
Don't get me started on the Teachers Union....Quote:
Originally Posted by Quakken
California is _supposed_ to be an open shop state. Yeah you don't have to join the union, but you still have to pay dues....
In my district an A in an ap class gives you 5/4 on the GPA scale. B's are A's, and A's are just awesome.Quote:
I don't like AP classes because they don't give me higher GPA's
I knew a kid rockin a 4.2 on his way out of high school. Undoubtedly, someone had a 4.5 or maybe above if they only took AP classes.
In our district AP classes only give you a 1.1 multiplier. It's not really worth it for that. They're only good if you know that you can for sure get a good grade, no matter how hard of, or how much work you get. I'm not so sure about myself, so I take normal classes.
-Indybird
I tried them, failed both I took. It's like triple the workload and about three quarters of the time as a normal class where I live. They cut about a month or two off the semester so they can "grade them in time for report cards"... that and you learn the test, I'm against AP as it's just horrible near here.
AP classes are better than DC towards your GPA, i took more DC than AP and i dropped around 30 ranks in my class cause alot of people instead took AP. this year i tried to balance it. im taking AP Cal BC, DC English 4, DC Government and Economics, and AP physics. hell of alot of work but better than being in a honnors class and not being challenged.
Here, they are pretty well done. They're not overly hard, and they give you a better reward. I will probably end up taking some junya and seenya year, and if i can get a good grade, it would be great.
The thing is, after i graduate i have no idea what i want to do. I don't want to be in the corporate world at all, the 100 hour weeks and staying up til 2 am every night to get a project done just doesn't suit me for an industry where you will probably be layed off if the stock fluxtuates. I may just want to start a business, or maybe even go into a creative field. I COULD be programmer, but who wants to do that?