arnoldsoccer4
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Our AP government teacher is on our district's improvement board (don't know the specific name) and has asked us for criticisms and recommendations to improve our school. I go to Plainfield North high school in Plainfield Illinois, and the other two high schools in our district are on academic probation from NCLB.Our school is on the way, we just can't be on probation yet because our school is only 5 years old. The school is about 2000 students total.
It seems that our school is not adequately preparing us for college from the perspective of most students. I went to high school for two years at a good California public school,and to be honest I believe I was receiving a much better education there. Our classes were challenging, even the non-honors courses (there were no science honors courses available). At my current school? Not so much.
For example, I am currently taking AP Biology. This is by far my easiest class of the day except for PE. The class consists of, come in, take notes on a packet that is given to us, do this daily, on Fridays take an open note quiz, and every month take a unit test that is the quizzes we have already taken copied and pasted exactly. I currently have around a 98, and I will not be taking the ap exam because I am not going to teach myself biology, I don't have the time. The average class is way too easy, many classes are along the same lines of my Biology class.
Also, I do have 2 challenging classes right now, AP Calculus and AP government. Both teachers that teach these classes are excellent, but looked down upon by the teachers of the "normal level" classes. I was permitted to sit in on a normal level class one time and quite frankly it astonished me. All guided notes and the homework assigned was coloring, which is unacceptable for a senior class.
So my recommendations at the moment are to strengthen up class difficulty, and one other. Our school hasn't done much in the way of colleges. Yes we have recruiters visiting but the school administration has done nothing, and if anything has given students false hope. I have heard 3 kids in the last week say they were applying to Northwestern with ACT scores of 21,22, and 24, and thought that they were going to be in easily. What happens to these kids when they don't apply to any schools they actually have a chance of getting in to?
So, any recommendations for my school, or the high school system as a whole? My AP Government teacher is a very convincing person and is working in conjunction with my AP US history teacher from last year, who is probably the best teacher I have ever had (he truly challenged us, hard grading, brutal homework, surprise quizzes to keep us in check).
It seems that our school is not adequately preparing us for college from the perspective of most students. I went to high school for two years at a good California public school,and to be honest I believe I was receiving a much better education there. Our classes were challenging, even the non-honors courses (there were no science honors courses available). At my current school? Not so much.
For example, I am currently taking AP Biology. This is by far my easiest class of the day except for PE. The class consists of, come in, take notes on a packet that is given to us, do this daily, on Fridays take an open note quiz, and every month take a unit test that is the quizzes we have already taken copied and pasted exactly. I currently have around a 98, and I will not be taking the ap exam because I am not going to teach myself biology, I don't have the time. The average class is way too easy, many classes are along the same lines of my Biology class.
Also, I do have 2 challenging classes right now, AP Calculus and AP government. Both teachers that teach these classes are excellent, but looked down upon by the teachers of the "normal level" classes. I was permitted to sit in on a normal level class one time and quite frankly it astonished me. All guided notes and the homework assigned was coloring, which is unacceptable for a senior class.
So my recommendations at the moment are to strengthen up class difficulty, and one other. Our school hasn't done much in the way of colleges. Yes we have recruiters visiting but the school administration has done nothing, and if anything has given students false hope. I have heard 3 kids in the last week say they were applying to Northwestern with ACT scores of 21,22, and 24, and thought that they were going to be in easily. What happens to these kids when they don't apply to any schools they actually have a chance of getting in to?
So, any recommendations for my school, or the high school system as a whole? My AP Government teacher is a very convincing person and is working in conjunction with my AP US history teacher from last year, who is probably the best teacher I have ever had (he truly challenged us, hard grading, brutal homework, surprise quizzes to keep us in check).