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Do US schools tend to not allow for the "university" style course selection? In mine, which is all I really know, I was allowed to double-up on certain subjects

Do US schools tend to not allow for the "university" style course selection? In mine, which is all I really know, I was allowed to double-up on certain subjects, e.g. biology and chemistry side-by-side such that I completed all required courses in three years rather than the traditional four.

rootusrootus 5y ago
It's pretty typical to have flexibility in scheduling. Some classes are mandatory for a particular grade level, the rest is prerequisite-based. At my local school, there was an extra early bird period in the morning if you wanted to take an extra class. We could also take classes from the local community college and have them count as both high school credit and college credit (today, the high school I went to has moved and is now sharing a property line with the community college, so it makes it very easy for students to go back and forth). My niece just graduated from high school two years ago and she's pretty close to finishing her bachelor's, because she had earned a lot of college credit already. For motivated students it really works out great.
Jtsummers 5y ago
If hours are available, you can do that. Many US schools fill your day with mandatory courses and it’s hard to get an open hour for that. My second high school had an 8-class day which did allow for that option, if the classes were available without conflict. My first had a 7-class day and as a freshman I was told I couldn’t take Spanish unless I wanted to skip lunch (which I didn’t).
dahfizz 5y ago
My highschool was similar to my college - there was a collection of required courses that covered all subjects, and there were electives you could choose from. In high school, the majority of your schedule was in required classes. In college, the vast majority was in major courses / electives.
jcranmer 5y ago
Every school district can choose on its own what to do, so there's going to be intense variability and generalization is difficult. For my school district, the general tendency is that you had a "core" of mandatory classes where your choice was at best "do you want the hard or easy version of the class", although math in particular was tracked somewhat more independently of grade level. In addition, there is a set of elective slots, and degree requirements might strongly push you to certain electives (in particular, foreign language elective requirements are probably pretty common). Doubling-up on two sciences in one year wouldn't be normally possible, at least on the standard end-of-year sign-up-for-the-next-grade forms, but it is possible to do so if you bitch long and hard enough at a school counselor for special dispensation.
swordsmith 5y ago
This was possible while I was in high school -- I was able to take Bio, Chem, Physics, and Calculus in the same year. However, this is no longer possible now for my younger siblings enrolling at the same public high school. Apparently the school now put much more strict limit on pre-requisite and what classes students can take at which year. There is now much less flexibility. This is not due to significantly increased student body size , but mainly for "equity" in education outcomes -- i.e. holding back the advanced students to accommodate the less advanced students. It makes very little sense, but that is California!
- jxramos 5y ago
  This is fascinating, a parent can't rely on their own experience at a school they previously attended to estimate what to expect their own children would get from a given institution. Every generation always faces a new set of challenges, nothing formulaic to life.

rootusrootus 5y ago

It's pretty typical to have flexibility in scheduling. Some classes are mandatory for a particular grade level, the rest is prerequisite-based. At my local school, there was an extra early bird period in the morning if you wanted to take an extra class. We could also take classes from the local community college and have them count as both high school credit and college credit (today, the high school I went to has moved and is now sharing a property line with the community college, so it makes it very easy for students to go back and forth). My niece just graduated from high school two years ago and she's pretty close to finishing her bachelor's, because she had earned a lot of college credit already. For motivated students it really works out great.

Jtsummers 5y ago

If hours are available, you can do that. Many US schools fill your day with mandatory courses and it’s hard to get an open hour for that. My second high school had an 8-class day which did allow for that option, if the classes were available without conflict. My first had a 7-class day and as a freshman I was told I couldn’t take Spanish unless I wanted to skip lunch (which I didn’t).

dahfizz 5y ago

My highschool was similar to my college - there was a collection of required courses that covered all subjects, and there were electives you could choose from. In high school, the majority of your schedule was in required classes. In college, the vast majority was in major courses / electives.

jcranmer 5y ago

Every school district can choose on its own what to do, so there's going to be intense variability and generalization is difficult. For my school district, the general tendency is that you had a "core" of mandatory classes where your choice was at best "do you want the hard or easy version of the class", although math in particular was tracked somewhat more independently of grade level. In addition, there is a set of elective slots, and degree requirements might strongly push you to certain electives (in particular, foreign language elective requirements are probably pretty common). Doubling-up on two sciences in one year wouldn't be normally possible, at least on the standard end-of-year sign-up-for-the-next-grade forms, but it is possible to do so if you bitch long and hard enough at a school counselor for special dispensation.

swordsmith 5y ago

This was possible while I was in high school -- I was able to take Bio, Chem, Physics, and Calculus in the same year. However, this is no longer possible now for my younger siblings enrolling at the same public high school. Apparently the school now put much more strict limit on pre-requisite and what classes students can take at which year. There is now much less flexibility. This is not due to significantly increased student body size , but mainly for "equity" in education outcomes -- i.e. holding back the advanced students to accommodate the less advanced students. It makes very little sense, but that is California!

jxramos 5y ago
This is fascinating, a parent can't rely on their own experience at a school they previously attended to estimate what to expect their own children would get from a given institution. Every generation always faces a new set of challenges, nothing formulaic to life.