Utah Lawmaker Seeks to Eliminate 12th Grade

[Good Old Neon]

The current crop of Republicans have awl the betterer idears.

 

 

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/utah-mulls-eliminating-12th-grade/story?id=9853553

[Doug C]

Republican State Senator Chris Buttars earlier this month proposed ditching a fourth year of high school statewide, calling 12th grade a time for "nothing but playing around."

 

"You're spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren't getting anything out of that grade," Buttars said.

 

Ha ha! I will read that to my Advanced Placement students tomorrow. They'll get a kick out of it, I'm sure. What a yokel.

[bobfrombob]

It wasn't that long ago that the province of Ontario did away with grade 13.

[Atticus]

[D-Dogg]

Republican State Senator Chris Buttars earlier this month proposed ditching a fourth year of high school statewide, calling 12th grade a time for "nothing but playing around."

 

"You're spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren't getting anything out of that grade," Buttars said.

 

Ha ha! I will read that to my Advanced Placement students tomorrow. They'll get a kick out of it, I'm sure. What a yokel.

 

The advanced placement class is highly the norm.

 

The seniors have a lot of bullshit classes. I don't recommend ridding the level all together, but making the courses more in line with dealing with adulthood and college.

[Doug C]

The advanced placement class is highly the norm.

 

The seniors have a lot of bullshit classes. I don't recommend ridding the level all together, but making the courses more in line with dealing with adulthood and college.

The number of students taking AP classes has increased, mainly due to districts moving to raise them, but they are far from highly the norm. Hardly the norm is more like it. There are certainly 'bullshit' classes, such as Practical Arts, but at least from my direct experience teaching high school for 24 years, most seniors do not have a lot of 'bullshit' classes. I would say that the opposite is often true. A fair amount, though certainly not the majority, of seniors take AP and Dual Enrollment classes that they shouldn't. Not everyone should go to college. That is why oft-maligned as 'bullshit' vocational-technical courses, especially those that prepare the student for a certification, are just as important as college-level and/or college credit courses in preparing our young people for adulthood.

 

I teach at a Magnet Technical High School. We have programs made up of mostly college bound students, such as Drafting, The Academy of Health Professions and business, and programs designed for immediate workforce certification or that prepare them for state certification, such as A+ cert. in Computer technology, welding or to take the NPLEX state test for Licensed Practical Nursing. That LPN program is rigorous. The students have to take several state graduation requirements on-line while taking a full class load in order to cover graduation and licensing requirements. Even old-style area schools that you don't apply to, at least in my district, now offer various technical programs in addition to college prep.

 

Getting rid of 12 grade is a stupid idea. Making it voluntary, like Utah's Buttars ends up recommending, is crazy. The logistical nightmare that would cause shows an ignorance of the school system. School teaching units that are based on enrollment would vary so much year to year that some teachers would be at a different school every year because schools would lose too many units. Hell, in a scheme like that, there might not be enough jobs in a district some years. Where would teachers go? Senior year already is voluntary. Students currently have the option of graduating early by taking the minimum credits rather than taking extra courses. Few do so and ironically the ones that choose this option are college bound and want to start early. This is all based on my state and district, of course.

[D-Dogg]

The number of students taking AP classes has increased, mainly due to districts moving to raise them, but they are far from highly the norm. Hardly the norm is more like it. There are certainly 'bullshit' classes, such as Practical Arts, but at least from my direct experience teaching high school for 24 years, most seniors do not have a lot of 'bullshit' classes. I would say that the opposite is often true. A fair amount, though certainly not the majority, of seniors take AP and Dual Enrollment classes that they shouldn't. Not everyone should go to college. That is why oft-maligned as 'bullshit' vocational-technical courses, especially those that prepare the student for a certification, are just as important as college-level and/or college credit courses in preparing our young people for adulthood.

 

I teach at a Magnet Technical High School. We have programs made up of mostly college bound students, such as Drafting, The Academy of Health Professions and business, and programs designed for immediate workforce certification or that prepare them for state certification, such as A+ cert. in Computer technology, welding or to take the NPLEX state test for Licensed Practical Nursing. That LPN program is rigorous. The students have to take several state graduation requirements on-line while taking a full class load in order to cover graduation and licensing requirements. Even old-style area schools that you don't apply to, at least in my district, now offer various technical programs in addition to college prep.

 

Getting rid of 12 grade is a stupid idea. Making it voluntary, like Utah's Buttars ends up recommending, is crazy. The logistical nightmare that would cause shows an ignorance of the school system. School teaching units that are based on enrollment would vary so much year to year that some teachers would be at a different school every year because schools would lose too many units. Hell, in a scheme like that, there might not be enough jobs in a district some years. Where would teachers go? Senior year already is voluntary. Students currently have the option of graduating early by taking the minimum credits rather than taking extra courses. Few do so and ironically the ones that choose this option are college bound and want to start early. This is all based on my state and district, of course.

 

Excellent post, and you are old.

 

... and magnet schools are also not the norm, but I think you know more than I in this matter; only in this matter.

[Analogman]

Where I grew up, you could graduate at 17 if you had a job. This was during the late 1970s. Of course, there were a lot of jobs around during that time.

[The High Heat]

I had a half-day schedule my senior year.

 

 

 

Come to think of it, I did the same thing in kindegarten.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I played a clip from the Rachel Maddow show about this story for my wife, and we both laughed because this was who we thought of right away.

Wouldn't eliminating 12th grade just give all the 11th graders "senioritis" syndrome?

[mountain bed]

I played a clip from the Rachel Maddow show about this story for my wife, and we both laughed because this was who we thought of right away.

 

OMG me too!

[slice_oftheday]

I'm a senior this year, and I'm certainly not "playing around." This is my toughest semester yet