Need More Options Annmarie July 2, 2014 2 Comments Dear Ed Inquiry, I have some concerns about high school credit requirements and the elective classes my high schooler is required to take. In my county, kids take 8 courses each year for a total of 32 credits by the end of their high school careers. However, the graduation requirement is 24 credits. As we enter his senior year, he only needs English, Math, Economics and American Government (these social studies classes are ½ credit each) to fulfill graduation requirements. He has decided to pursue a career in automotive mechanics and attend a technical school instead of college. So, how do I get him to get excited about attending 8 classes when he only needs 3 per semester? His junior year, attendance was already becoming a real issue. He is sick of electives that don’t meet his needs and is running out of PE classes to take! Sincerely, Need More Options in Florida Dear Need More Options, Your kid’s frustration (and consequently, your frustration) is echoed hundreds of times in school counselors’ offices every school year. Why should a student have to attend school for the entire day when they don’t need any more credits? It doesn’t make much sense at all, and as you have experienced, creates issues with attendance and motivation. If your son has a job, he can enroll in some OJT (On the Job Training) courses. Check with your school on the limit as that varies. Unfortunately, elective options are often limited due to budgeting issues. They schools simply cannot afford more teaching units to offer a wider array of electives. Something else that is unfortunate is that parents and students are not always made aware of the options available to them. For instance, did you know that in Florida there are actually 18-credit, three-year diploma tracks that were implemented in 2011-2012? Click on this link to get informed: http://www.fldoe.org/bii/studentpro/pdf/1112HS-Brochure.pdf. While it may be too late to save your son some wasted time and energy, you might find this helpful if you have any younger children. You can also share this with your friends and family to raise awareness. Sincerely, Ed Inquiry 2 Responses Dawn Casey-Rowe July 2, 2014 That’s interesting. In my school, we have limited “electives” that the students don’t elect. I had a junior in my freshman current events class because of scheduling, and student that try and take electives they’ve already passed because of scheduling, too. That effectively denies them a credit. I said no, but remained open to an independent study. My solution is I’d like to offer alternate learning supervised by a teacher. Sometimes, it gets overwhelming–all the unofficial projects, research, interests, and connections I oversee, so I try to organize it and teach students that they have to be responsible for the outreach. This way nobody slips through the cracks. Imagine if the students got credit for this? Whether they need the credit or not isn’t the issue–it’s credits they want, and they’re being mentored in a direction they’d like to go. I was talking with a female student in our auto program. She’s going to be a senior. She has all her auto classes set and scheduled, but I suggested we discuss marketing. There are a thousand auto shops out there–a dime a dozen as it were. However, I don’t know one here geared to women, or maybe one which taught basic auto to beginners, or even had an auto-learning date night seminar. Every student must be thinking of ideas constantly, being entrepreneurial, even if they’ll be working for someone else. There are tons of ways for student to set themselves up to be unique and creative. They’ll need that in this work environment. Jobs don’t come to kids these days. In my parent’s day, they had a job and retired. In my day, we have a few careers and hopefully retire. Kids now will need to be multifaceted, create personal brands, and be able to function in multiple job environments or they’ll remain chronically underemployed. Lets use the extra space in the schedule to teach these things. These are the critical aspects of the 21st century economy that aren’t being addressed. Maybe we do that with independent study, or maybe we shift some electives, but this stuff’s critical. I have an entire reading list of entrepreneurial books, and I teach financial literacy on the side. Nobody gets any credit for it, they appear around my desk stealing and returning books, and we discuss this. The question is, how can we better organize this for students so they’re learning what they want to learn? Can they self-pace some of this learning with a qualified mentor/teacher? How do we follow them out into their careers to make sure they can use this stuff? I think how we address these questions and use that extra time for students not just seat time is the key. Loved this question and answer. Reply amferry July 7, 2014 Dawn, Your idea to use the space to suit the students’ needs and truly empower them to be ready for the career they choose is a brilliant one. Now, we just need to get schools with tricky master schedules and limited teaching units to be flexible in their thinking in order to fit this in somehow. Flexibility of thinking if what we want our kids to have, yet we spend all day stuffing them into square boxes with rigid walls. Your comment got my wheels spinning about how to have a conversation at my school about this! Thanks! Reply Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Dawn Casey-Rowe July 2, 2014 That’s interesting. In my school, we have limited “electives” that the students don’t elect. I had a junior in my freshman current events class because of scheduling, and student that try and take electives they’ve already passed because of scheduling, too. That effectively denies them a credit. I said no, but remained open to an independent study. My solution is I’d like to offer alternate learning supervised by a teacher. Sometimes, it gets overwhelming–all the unofficial projects, research, interests, and connections I oversee, so I try to organize it and teach students that they have to be responsible for the outreach. This way nobody slips through the cracks. Imagine if the students got credit for this? Whether they need the credit or not isn’t the issue–it’s credits they want, and they’re being mentored in a direction they’d like to go. I was talking with a female student in our auto program. She’s going to be a senior. She has all her auto classes set and scheduled, but I suggested we discuss marketing. There are a thousand auto shops out there–a dime a dozen as it were. However, I don’t know one here geared to women, or maybe one which taught basic auto to beginners, or even had an auto-learning date night seminar. Every student must be thinking of ideas constantly, being entrepreneurial, even if they’ll be working for someone else. There are tons of ways for student to set themselves up to be unique and creative. They’ll need that in this work environment. Jobs don’t come to kids these days. In my parent’s day, they had a job and retired. In my day, we have a few careers and hopefully retire. Kids now will need to be multifaceted, create personal brands, and be able to function in multiple job environments or they’ll remain chronically underemployed. Lets use the extra space in the schedule to teach these things. These are the critical aspects of the 21st century economy that aren’t being addressed. Maybe we do that with independent study, or maybe we shift some electives, but this stuff’s critical. I have an entire reading list of entrepreneurial books, and I teach financial literacy on the side. Nobody gets any credit for it, they appear around my desk stealing and returning books, and we discuss this. The question is, how can we better organize this for students so they’re learning what they want to learn? Can they self-pace some of this learning with a qualified mentor/teacher? How do we follow them out into their careers to make sure they can use this stuff? I think how we address these questions and use that extra time for students not just seat time is the key. Loved this question and answer. Reply
amferry July 7, 2014 Dawn, Your idea to use the space to suit the students’ needs and truly empower them to be ready for the career they choose is a brilliant one. Now, we just need to get schools with tricky master schedules and limited teaching units to be flexible in their thinking in order to fit this in somehow. Flexibility of thinking if what we want our kids to have, yet we spend all day stuffing them into square boxes with rigid walls. Your comment got my wheels spinning about how to have a conversation at my school about this! Thanks! Reply
