HC, I need your assistance. (nascent US high school education flame thread)

[Al B. Sure!]

I am pretty sure that Al is a below average performer.

JM

What the ****, Jon? Are you making a joke? What does that mean?

[KrazyHorse]

It means that your education was a complete waste of resources

[Kuciwalker]

(for onodera)

I don't remember the exact course requirements well enought to write out the core curriculum, but here's what I did:

Freshman year:
Biology*
English*
"Tech" (I did my English homework in this class, don't remember what it was about)
Pre-calculus**
Physical Education*
French 2**
Computer Science**

(I took Chemistry* during the intervening summer so I'd have room for both AP CS and AP Bio sophomore year.)

Sophomore year:
English*
World History 1*
AP Calculus**
AP Biology
AP Computer Science
Physical Education*
French 3**

Junior year:
English*
AP US History*
DNA Science
AP Physics**
Multivariable Calculus (semester)
Linear Algebra (semester)
Quantum Physics (semester)
Optics (semester)
Systems Programming (semester)
AI (semester)

Senior year:
AP English Language*
AP US Government*
"Geosystems"
AP Psychology
World History 2**
Numerical Analysis (semester)
Differential Equations (semester)
Film Studies (semester, I had already gotten into college at this point)
Senior Tech Lab

* Required in that year
** Required, but not in a specific year

Some further explanation is in order:

1) AP courses are supposed to be roughly at the level of a freshman college course in the same subject, and are frequently accepted for credit or placement by colleges.

2) The math requirement was actually "you have to take four years of math, and you must complete through AP Calculus" so the baseline student would take Geometry / Algebra/Trig / Precalc / AP Calc.

3) You had to take three years of a foreign language; I had already taken a year of French in middle school (the majority of TJ students had already gotten a year of some language in), so I only had to do two more. A reasonable proportion (at least 20% I believe) went on to take the AP course for their language. TJ offered French, Spanish, German, Latin, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian.

4) A few of the classes would accept less difficult substitutes. Most students actually took regular physics instead of AP, or would take regular physics and then AP the next year. In theory you could take a regular government class instead of AP US Gov, but there were never enough students who opted to do that for the school to actually offer the class.

5) Senior Tech Lab is sort of like high school version of a science-major thesis, or a science fair project writ large. You had to design some decent-sized experiment in one of the labs, carry it out, write a report, etc. etc. and you were expected to pick a project that would take all year. I got out of it by doing a research internship the summer before, and got to spend that period dicking around in the computer lab. A fair number of students would submit their projects to various science fair things and would do pretty well; a friend of mine (now grad CS at Stanford) won the International Science Fair for a facial recognition algorithm he invented. He was exceptional, of course, but the fact that *someone* at the school did that wasn't.

6) My schedule was very atypical - I was probably in the 97th percentile of TJ students by "proportion of science courses taken".

7) That said, almost every student took at least one science AP, in addition to the required AP Government and AP Calculus.

[Egbert]

It means that your education was a complete waste of resources

KrazyHorse.
You seem to constantly fling gratuitous insults at others and praise yourself, presumably to make yourself feel good. I therefore feel pity for you. You really should get help.

[Elok]

While KH does do that, Albie really is something of a special case.

[Al B. Sure!]

Normal school:

4 years of English (it's basically literature class and essay writing), 4 years of foreign language, 4 years of social studies (broken down into US History, World Cultures, US Government and one more that I can't think what it is), 4 years of math (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus), 3 years of science (biology, chemistry, physics), 4 years of health classes and gym classes. These classes are all taken every day with gym 2 days a week and health 2 days a week.

There are electives thrown in like Philosophy, Drama, Computer Science, etc. and you can take the AP versions of all the above classes.

I imagine typical high school electives wouldn't be that but would be Shop and Home Economics?

[KrazyHorse]

KrazyHorse.
You seem to constantly fling gratuitous insults at others and praise yourself, presumably to make yourself feel good. I therefore feel pity for you. You really should get help.

peterfharris.
You seem to think that I give a flying **** about your opinion of me. I am greatly amused by this.

[KrazyHorse]

While KH does do that, Albie really is something of a special case.

The description of the actions is somewhat accurate (though I dispute the "gratuitous" part). The description of the motive is not...

[Elok]

No, probably not. I think you just like insulting people.

[KrazyHorse]

I have simple pleasures

[DriXnaK]

That's actually pretty impressive Kuci and it goes well beyond the public schools. In order to take differential equations at a public school you have to use dual enrollment as far as I know.

[Kuciwalker]

It's a science/technology magnet that takes students from all over Fairfax County (an enormous school district) which is how it's able to offer stuff like that.

[DriXnaK]

You can still do it through public schools, you just have to go to the local community college through dual enrollment. In fact, dual enrollment beats the **** out of AP courses. I felt sorry for all the high school students that went the AP route.

[Elok]

I think my HS offered differential equations. Not that I ever took it, I flunked normal calculus. But I knew a girl who took it. Eleanor Roosevelt High, best school in Prince George's County--and if you know PG, you know that's a hair's breadth away from an insult.

Oh, and I don't believe it was dual enrollment.

[Al B. Sure!]

I think my HS offered differential equations. Not that I ever took it, I flunked normal calculus. But I knew a girl who took it. Eleanor Roosevelt High, best school in Prince George's County--and if you know PG, you know that's a hair's breadth away from an insult.

Oh, and I don't believe it was dual enrollment.

US News & World Report says High Point and Northwestern are both better but they're... silver medal schools