Erosion of non-college prep courses puts high school seniors and their instructors in a situation unfair to everyone.
In an effort to eliminate the tracking that remedial classes pro----te, high schools are purging courses that-like books for pleasure, high school math and physical science- are satisfactory for graduation but do not meet University of California and Cal State requirements. Instead of these lower-level courses, many students are programmed into college-prep classes for which they are not prepared.
My colleagues, especially those who teach math, acience and foreign language, are all experiencing an erosion of non-college prep classes in their subject areas because the education community wants to prepare all students for admission to college- a noble objective. But because non- college prep courses are increasingly not offered, students enrolled in more challenging classes tend to fall into three basic categories: college-bound youngsters who can easily handle the course load, stuggling students willing to try and those who get by with Ds or accept Fs. Typical heterogeneous classrooms.
While challenging our freshmen, sophmores, and juniors might push them into accomplishing more (or repeating the class), what do we do with seniors? Do we maintain high standards commensurate with college expectations, or do we dumb down the curricula and reduce the workload in order to pass everyone? The public and our principals expect both- high standards, few Ds and fails.
Lowering standards cheats students who benefit from a rigorous curriculum and sends kids on to fill college remedial classes and make headlines with their high numbers. It also gives students entering the work force a false sense of what will be expected of them in terms of work habits. However, higher standards will most likely add to the dropout rate. Teachers are trapped between theory, school district madates, what the public wants, or thinks it wants, and reality. I teach journalism, a college-prep course, to mostly high school seniors. Maintaining high standards in journalism means that at year-end my roll book will be replete with zeros for students who rarely do homework or complete an assignment (40% of this semester's seniors), display a high number of Ds for poor-quality work and have a few As Bs and Cs for youngsters who brought good work habits and high skill levels into the journalism classroom.
I decide at the beggining of the semester to keep standards high. Then I learn that 60% of seniors enrolled in journalism don't want to be there (about the same percentage as for geometry, chemistry and French). Students were enrolled in journalism because nothing else satisfied the English, graduation requirement, or fit into their schedules, which might include working six hours a day at Macy's or the neighborhood Jack-In-The-Box.
Faced with the same reality I encounter, other teachers reluctantly reduce the number of assignments or accept, lower quality work. I offer free lunchtime and after-school tutoring and encourage working students to call me at home for assistance. Few attend tutoring; fewer call for help. Large numbers are failing, Standards drop.
Joseph Heller wrote in his 1955 novel "Catch 22": "Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."
Here's our Catch-22. It's spring semester. There's no time to repeat classes. If seniors don't pass required courses this time around, they won't graduate June 20. Many are the first in their family to even get to high school. Teachers' standards, limited course offerings and students' inability or unwillingness to perform may keep seniors from walking across the stage to accept their diplomas.
Do we pass seniors, even with a D, who haven't earned it and add to the ranks of high school graduates who are illiterate? Or do we withhold the diploma, which may mean the difference between emplyment and a job?
Our seniors are not faceless numbers. They're 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds who are poinsed to enter the "real world." Is writing a news story, solving a geometry problem or conjugating a French verb so important to their futures that it's worth denying graduation because of a class the youngsters might not have wanted to take in the first place?
While I'd welcome the luxury of being able to ponder philosophical theories and examine their implication over a cafe latte at a sidewalk cafe, there is no time. Final grades and graduation are only days away. It is a no-win situation. After several sleepless nights, I've decided to issue Ds and leave teaching responsibility and sccountability to their future college professors, employers and their parents.
Discussion Questions
Key Words and Concepts
The following words and concepts come from the article. You are to first define each of these words. Next, use that word in a single, complete sentence containing and subject and verb.