4 ms·

I was in the "middle" tier math program in high school. But around sophomore year I wanted to get more into science/engineering but you can't switch tiers or c

I was in the "middle" tier math program in high school. But around sophomore year I wanted to get more into science/engineering but you can't switch tiers or catch up to those ahead of you, no matter if you're making extra effort and doing well. It was frustrating. In my case I got a letter about summer school at a local university. So I pre-calced over summer school to get moved into calculus in high school. It honestly changed my path. I get having tiers, but once placed into one its hard to move. If I wasn't self motivated, and had the opportunity to try I would be in a different place.

pishpash 5y ago
Many public schools take local college credits. There is always a path.
- cortesoft 5y ago
  Yes, but these alternatives are much harder to find for students who already aren’t the best at navigating the school system. Requiring students to figure all of this out is going to reduce the number of students who benefit by quite a bit.
- gnicholas 5y ago
  My understanding is that CA law requires public schools to accept any class that would receive credit by the UCs. They don't always, and I believe some bay area schools have been (successfully) sued over their non-compliance.
zdragnar 5y ago
My school allowed changing tiers, and I am very grateful that it did. I had a bad year in my early teens with some mental health stuff, and spent my first year in high school with kids who needed much more time and practice to get a handle on concepts than I did. If I had been forced to stay in those tracks, my life would have taken a drastically different course, as I didn't really need to work to learn. Getting bumped into a higher tier challenged me, and that challenge is what prepared me for college. Had I gone into college without that work ethic, I almost certainly would have failed out early.
digisign 5y ago
Nice work. However you say you couldn't switch tiers but in the next paragraph you did find a way. So, it sounds like you can.
- PebblesRox 5y ago
  I read it as an unspoken "within the school system." It seems reasonable to expect schools to include a path for changing tiers if they put such a system in place, rather than leaving it up to students to find a workaround. My school supported me in taking trig as an independent study over the summer (with a textbook and slides from one of the teachers plus a few meetings as needed.) This let me take AP Calc senior year; otherwise I would have missed that opportunity due to being placed in the wrong math class freshman year.
- DoughnutHole 5y ago
  If he was only able to get on this track due to interventions from outside the school system which many students could not afford or otherwise could not access, then that's a failure of the public school system.

pishpash 5y ago

Many public schools take local college credits. There is always a path.

cortesoft 5y ago
Yes, but these alternatives are much harder to find for students who already aren’t the best at navigating the school system. Requiring students to figure all of this out is going to reduce the number of students who benefit by quite a bit.
gnicholas 5y ago
My understanding is that CA law requires public schools to accept any class that would receive credit by the UCs. They don't always, and I believe some bay area schools have been (successfully) sued over their non-compliance.

zdragnar 5y ago

My school allowed changing tiers, and I am very grateful that it did. I had a bad year in my early teens with some mental health stuff, and spent my first year in high school with kids who needed much more time and practice to get a handle on concepts than I did. If I had been forced to stay in those tracks, my life would have taken a drastically different course, as I didn't really need to work to learn. Getting bumped into a higher tier challenged me, and that challenge is what prepared me for college. Had I gone into college without that work ethic, I almost certainly would have failed out early.

digisign 5y ago

Nice work. However you say you couldn't switch tiers but in the next paragraph you did find a way. So, it sounds like you can.

PebblesRox 5y ago
I read it as an unspoken "within the school system." It seems reasonable to expect schools to include a path for changing tiers if they put such a system in place, rather than leaving it up to students to find a workaround. My school supported me in taking trig as an independent study over the summer (with a textbook and slides from one of the teachers plus a few meetings as needed.) This let me take AP Calc senior year; otherwise I would have missed that opportunity due to being placed in the wrong math class freshman year.
DoughnutHole 5y ago
If he was only able to get on this track due to interventions from outside the school system which many students could not afford or otherwise could not access, then that's a failure of the public school system.