Georgia's State Board of Education has passed a new standard for public education. Starting with the 2008-2009 freshman class, high school students will be required to have four years of math and science. (Students already in high school will not be affected)
There will no longer be separate college-prep and vocational tracks, but instead one track that all students must follow. Along with removing the two-track system, public schools are also removing any distinction between regular- and higher-level courses. Advanced Placement and Honors students will not be recognized for their efforts; rather, everything must appear ‘fair’ and ‘equal’.
The schools are not simply requiring four years of math; they are requiring four years of advanced math. The only thing this will do is make for a better-looking curriculum that does not take into consideration that people are all different. Some may excel at math and science, but not have an aptitude for language arts, or history. Equally, the reverse is true, so why is the Georgia Board of Education insisting that all high school students take such a quantity of advanced maths and sciences?
Of course, when students start receiving failing grades because they cannot all handle this course work, the schools will “dumb-down” the courses. This means that the students who can excel at these courses will not be able to expand their knowledge, and the ones who cannot will still not be learning anything useful. Dropout rates are already very high; this is certainly going to make them increase, which is surely not the goal.
Additionally these math and science requirements exceed the current general requirements for college admission (unless you are going into a specifically math- or science-intensive course of study). Georgia’s Board of Education is making it unnecessarily difficult for students to make it through high school.
Therefore, demanding these higher-level math courses will not do the students any good. If this new requirement were designed for the students’ benefit, they would require at least one practical application math, instead of overloading students with more advanced math than they need. Also, what about basic English? Communication and literacy skills, such as spelling and reading comprehension, are not given enough emphasis.
Georgia’s educational system is in trouble, but decisions like these are the reason why. Our public school system really needs to figure out what is important for high school students to learn, and what is just going to cause more problems in an already struggling system.
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Alot of places are getting new standards but is that really the answer?
http://www.progressiveu.org/130647-homework-overdose#new
I would be interested in answers to a few questions regarding this policy. I can not agree with you more that this sounds as though it will set students up to fail. However, how are they defining "advanced courses"? Is Algebra included as "advanced"? If not, they are counting on students having Algebra before they enter high school. Are they going to create new, advanced courses to help fulfill this need? What will they do when their high school graduation rates plummet to new lows? How much of this is tied to tracking in a different way? Tracks are not necessarily as simple as college-prep - vocational but could include other aspects including levels of classes. What do the teachers think of this move?
Well that was more than a few questions! Any inisights?
Robert Dobbertin, Jr.
MSEd Candidate - Foundations of Education
University of Kansas
They're doing something along those lines in Texas. They call it the "Four Square" plan: incoming high school freshmen are required four years of every core class (math, science, social studies, and English) on top of one and a half P.E. credits, one art credit, one half health credit, at least two foreign language credits, and a technology credit, and a couple other courses I'm forgetting at the moment, which brings the total number of required credits to graduate up by two, while simultaniously bringing down the number of required elective credits by either one or one and a half. The required credits to graduate went from 24 to 26 and the new requirements will likely destroy magnet programs like the art school I currently attend.