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Post by Merge on Jul 27, 2016 23:02:01 GMT
we quit teaching the vocational classes because of lack of funding and the testing requirements if NCLB. I always thought the way my kid's school did things was pretty cool. Every kid who went to the school, regardless of whether or not they were on the going to college track, was also put into a vocational track. For example, my youngest son's girlfriend just graduated. She graduated in the top 10 of their class, had enough AP and dual enrollment credit to college as a second semester sophomore and because she was in a health related vocational track, she also graduated with all the appropriate classes to become a CNA. So while she is going off to college in the fall, she also has a vocation that will allow her to work while in school. My younger son was also in a health track and has all the appropriate course work for a medical something (some kind of admin thing) that along with working in a law office for the last four years allows him to do paralegal work in a legal setting that deals with medical legalities. He is going off to school in August as a sophomore as well and is planning on working while in school. Everyone at his school graduates with some kind of vocational certification that allows them to go straight to work if they want. While they aren't high paying jobs, they are definitely considered stepping stone certifications that can be built on in the future if the student wants to. Does this coursework (both college track and vocational for everyone) leave space for electives other than the vocational classes each year of high school? Fine arts, foreign language, technology, etc.?
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Post by anxiousmom on Jul 27, 2016 23:39:15 GMT
I always thought the way my kid's school did things was pretty cool. Every kid who went to the school, regardless of whether or not they were on the going to college track, was also put into a vocational track. For example, my youngest son's girlfriend just graduated. She graduated in the top 10 of their class, had enough AP and dual enrollment credit to college as a second semester sophomore and because she was in a health related vocational track, she also graduated with all the appropriate classes to become a CNA. So while she is going off to college in the fall, she also has a vocation that will allow her to work while in school. My younger son was also in a health track and has all the appropriate course work for a medical something (some kind of admin thing) that along with working in a law office for the last four years allows him to do paralegal work in a legal setting that deals with medical legalities. He is going off to school in August as a sophomore as well and is planning on working while in school. Everyone at his school graduates with some kind of vocational certification that allows them to go straight to work if they want. While they aren't high paying jobs, they are definitely considered stepping stone certifications that can be built on in the future if the student wants to. Does this coursework (both college track and vocational for everyone) leave space for electives other than the vocational classes each year of high school? Fine arts, foreign language, technology, etc.? It does. In Florida, there are specific requirements to graduate that already include two years of a language. They also have to complete an online class through Florida's Virtual School that a lot of kids choose to complete an elective (this rule changed recently, so my older son didn't have to do it but my younger did-he chose to take Driver's Ed.) Both of my kids started honors high school classes in 8th grade, and for both of them this included their language class. The both have taken other electives, and their school is a tech school so the tech stuff came in conjunction within the other courses. Fine Arts? Ha. They could have chosen art classes, but neither of mine are arty kids so they pretty much ran from those. Although they both did a Humanities dual enrollment course that counted as an elective. For kids that don't choose to do AP or Dual Enrollment classes there are other fine arts classes available (like music and art) if they choose. So yes, the vocational courses don't necessarily take away from other electives. There is room in the schedule for all the other stuff as well. The funny thing with my younger son was that he only had three classes his senior year left to take, so pretty much his entire schedule was electives. I do think that I should probably add in here that the school was a charter school and had some leeway that a traditional public school may not have.
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Post by Merge on Jul 27, 2016 23:46:53 GMT
Does this coursework (both college track and vocational for everyone) leave space for electives other than the vocational classes each year of high school? Fine arts, foreign language, technology, etc.? It does. In Florida, there are specific requirements to graduate that already include two years of a language. They also have to complete an online class through Florida's Virtual School that a lot of kids choose to complete an elective (this rule changed recently, so my older son didn't have to do it but my younger did-he chose to take Driver's Ed.) Both of my kids started honors high school classes in 8th grade, and for both of them this included their language class. The both have taken other electives, and their school is a tech school so the tech stuff came in conjunction within the other courses. Fine Arts? Ha. They could have chosen art classes, but neither of mine are arty kids so they pretty much ran from those. Although they both did a Humanities dual enrollment course that counted as an elective. For kids that don't choose to do AP or Dual Enrollment classes there are other fine arts classes available (like music and art) if they choose. So yes, the vocational courses don't necessarily take away from other electives. There is room in the schedule for all the other stuff as well. The funny thing with my younger son was that he only had three classes his senior year left to take, so pretty much his entire schedule was electives. I do think that I should probably add in here that the school was a charter school and had some leeway that a traditional public school may not have. Gotcha. One of the biggest obstacles we've faced in Texas has been an increasing number of academic requirements that squeeze out room for electives. Our state only requires one year or semester (I forget which) of fine arts for high school graduation, and for a while had a lot of other across-the-board requirements that kept kids from taking multiple years of band, choir or orchestra. In order to field an advanced ensemble that performs well at competition, you need kids to be in the ensemble for 3-4 years of high school, not just one, so programs were really suffering. We have early college magnet high schools here where the goal is to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree, and my understanding is that they offer very little in the way of arts electives because the kids simply don't have time for them. That's fine if that's a choice the kid and family makes, but I hate to see public schools do away with the arts unilaterally to make room for more academic coursework.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jul 28, 2016 0:03:53 GMT
It does. In Florida, there are specific requirements to graduate that already include two years of a language. They also have to complete an online class through Florida's Virtual School that a lot of kids choose to complete an elective (this rule changed recently, so my older son didn't have to do it but my younger did-he chose to take Driver's Ed.) Both of my kids started honors high school classes in 8th grade, and for both of them this included their language class. The both have taken other electives, and their school is a tech school so the tech stuff came in conjunction within the other courses. Fine Arts? Ha. They could have chosen art classes, but neither of mine are arty kids so they pretty much ran from those. Although they both did a Humanities dual enrollment course that counted as an elective. For kids that don't choose to do AP or Dual Enrollment classes there are other fine arts classes available (like music and art) if they choose. So yes, the vocational courses don't necessarily take away from other electives. There is room in the schedule for all the other stuff as well. The funny thing with my younger son was that he only had three classes his senior year left to take, so pretty much his entire schedule was electives. I do think that I should probably add in here that the school was a charter school and had some leeway that a traditional public school may not have. Gotcha. One of the biggest obstacles we've faced in Texas has been an increasing number of academic requirements that squeeze out room for electives. Our state only requires one year or semester (I forget which) of fine arts for high school graduation, and for a while had a lot of other across-the-board requirements that kept kids from taking multiple years of band, choir or orchestra. In order to field an advanced ensemble that performs well at competition, you need kids to be in the ensemble for 3-4 years of high school, not just one, so programs were really suffering. We have early college magnet high schools here where the goal is to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree, and my understanding is that they offer very little in the way of arts electives because the kids simply don't have time for them. That's fine if that's a choice the kid and family makes, but I hate to see public schools do away with the arts unilaterally to make room for more academic coursework. I am with you there. I hate to see schools that are purely focused on academics-there is so much more to learn outside of that area. I admit that I have always allowed my kids to pick and chose their electives. Neither one of them have been drawn to the arts-I was always astounded that *I* could have children that had no desire whatsoever to go that direction. My younger was more inclined to try things outside of school, like the guitar lessons, but in school his electives were more along the unneeded by interesting AP classes. My older was a lazy student and took simply what he had to most of the time, and he also had zero desire to take any class that was not required. The fact that he took a humanities class made me beyond happy.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 5, 2024 5:28:57 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2016 20:52:33 GMT
If only a dome would do that! I don't care why Trump wants a wall. I care why I want one. I've given our government more than enough time to do their job and secure that southern border. They have failed big time! It's a freakin' absurdity all the crying that's being done about this most basic duty. ETA - not you, Ramblin. There was a good segment on one of the news stations the other day regarding the southern border. They talked to border guards and also had a breakdown of how many people are entering (or being apprehended? Can't remember which) each year. It is actually very low right now. Eta that I am not explaining it very well. Trying to get ready for work but also reading the thread. . Basically, they were saying that the numbers that were entering illegally was much lower than in the past but the number being deported is highest. So, there IS some progress being made. I wish I could remember which network it was on so I could find a link. They also talked to border agents who said that additional wall is not necessary (they were in an area where there was a partial wall but that at the end of it you could just look around it into Mexico). They said that the technology that they have recently gotten is very helpful, and that the money they have asked for to increase their budget had NOT been to add on to the wall, as they don't see that as necessary. Apparently, they're apprehending less because they were told no to. This video clip is just under 40 minutes but, it's shocking what the border officials themselves are revealing about what and how the administration is doing or not doing. It's full of very illuminating information. It also seems to be the number of deportations was up because they changed the way they defined a deportation, not because they're actually deporting more illegal immigrants. ... the number of people deported at or near the border has gone up — primarily as a result of changing who gets counted in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's deportation statistics.
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~Lauren~
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,876
Jun 26, 2014 3:33:18 GMT
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Post by ~Lauren~ on Jul 28, 2016 21:42:08 GMT
In other words....smoke and mirrors.
SSDD
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Jul 28, 2016 22:05:17 GMT
] And on that note, I do think the possibility of a free college education is possible. After all public schools are free so why can't that be extended to the college level somehow. Not saying it would be easy but the precedent of free education is not completely foreign at least. I'm assuming Donald thinks a wall is also not impossible given China has a big one that was built for the purposes of exclusion.[/quote][ Sure, free college! Why not! After all, look how much students appreciate the free high school education they get! And that education is not free. I already contribute more than 5000 to free education every year ( that is going up, soon). Look at the tax burden in countries that have free college: www.businessinsider.com/how-do-european-countries-afford-free-college-2016-3
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