High School for only 2 years? What do you think

[hereyago]

So, I am watching news with Diane Sawyer tonight and there are 8 states-Conn., Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont in the fall of next year start with a few of their high schools have 2 years instead of going for the 4 years: 10th graders could take exit exams, if they passed, they could get their diploma and have 2 years of community college for free to start off with.

What do you think?

 

[clarabelle]

Do most colleges admit 16 y.o.s?
So they would need to go to a local college so they could live at home?

I wonder why the school system is offering it?

I have a 14 y.o. DD who is very bright and could probably pass something like that next year. But she needs a few more years to gain maturity. I think she needs the time.

 

[Feralpeg]

Just because they are able to pass the exam doesn't mean the students are ready to be thrust into a college environment...even a junior college. You are talking about 16 year old kids in classes with 18 and older students. I think it is a bad idea in general.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

In Florida, we have dual enrollment and there are many students who have earned their associates by the time they graduate high school b/c essentially in Junior/Senior year--ALL of their coursework is at the CC. And in this county, they physically attend the CC.

I'm not against it. Much of higher level high school work can and is taught in the lower levels of college. No need to learn Advanced algebra twice or American History for example.

My only issue would be the maturity of the student. Not all 16yo's will be ready for a college campus.

I would prefer for it to remain and OPTION and perhaps over many years of time, transition it if they feel it is good for our educational system.

However-I do NOT like the idea of having to come up with college money 2 years early. I do like the idea of AP classes and dual enrollment that take some of the burden of out of pocket tuition costs off the table.

I don't think it would fly in this state. Especially with teh state of Florida now allowing universities to charge differential fees--which essentially means that tuition will cost TWICE as much as it used to beginning this fall.

But kids have been doing early entry to college for years. It is just rare--and the kid I believe does have to pass the GED to get around the lack of a high school diploma. In those cases it was a Doogie Howser type who gets into Harvard. In those cases, a guardian goes with them as clearly the child is well under the age to live alone.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Just because they are able to pass the exam doesn't mean the students are ready to be thrust into a college environment...even a junior college. You are talking about 16 year old kids in classes with 18 and older students. I think it is a bad idea in general.

In Brevard county--specifically in the Melbourne area, the kids go to BCC. They are still under the umbrella of the district. But it can be done. Of course, it is optional. No booting kids early to save a buck--especially since the state is paying for the coursework.

 

[ladycollector]

I did this. That's why I'm 20 and getting ready to graduate college with my bachelors degree =)

Wonderful program and idea. The last 2 years of high school would have been a complete waste of time for me.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

So, I am watching news with Diane Sawyer tonight and there are 8 states-Conn., Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont in the fall of next year start with a few of their high schools have 2 years instead of going for the 4 years: 10th graders could take exit exams, if they passed, they could get their diploma and have 2 years of community college for free to start off with.

What do you think?

I wrote a paper about this about 7 years ago for college. The assignment was to write about what you envision the K-12 system to look like in 2020. I included this type of thing in my paper.

I think it's a good idea to have this option for kids who are academically ready (and mature enough) to handle college at age 16.

Oh, and for what it's worth, some programs like this already exist, except that the student does not get a diploma after 10th grade. They get it after being dually enrolled in grades 11 and 12 along with community college. It is possible to get their diploma and an AA at the same time at the end of 12th grade. Other students will get their diploma but may not have enough credits for the AA just yet, but they have a good start on it. The program I know of is in Washington State and is called Running Start.

 

[ladycollector]

Oh, and for what it's worth, some programs like this already exist, except that the student does not get a diploma after 10th grade. They get it after being dually enrolled in grades 11 and 12 along with community college. It is possible to get their diploma and an AA at the same time at the end of 12th grade. Other students will get their diploma but may not have enough credits for the AA just yet, but they have a good start on it. The program I know of is in Washington State and is called Running Start.

This is exactly what I did. I started 11th grade/Freshman year of college in August 2006, and graduated HS/received my AA in May 2008.

 

[Maleficient]

So you can earn your AA degree while still technically a high school student and not have to pay college tuition?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

So you can earn your AA degree while still technically a high school student and not have to pay college tuition?

Basically. I believe the funding that would go to pay for educating the 11th/12th grader in the high school goes to the Community College to educate the same student.

 

[laurie31]

I'm not sure why this would be better than dual enrollment.

My DD will (hopefully) graduate high school with her Associate's Degree. However, I am not interested in her going "off to college" at 16. She would like it though. She actually asked me last year if she could just take her GED after 8th grade and go on to college. This was me:

I don't think colleges have a problem admitting 16 year olds, but I'm not sure how it would work for them to live on campus, though.

There is at least one college that caters to younger students but it costs $50K/year, and um...well, we just don't have that, to tell the truth. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd want her that far away, at that age, even if we could afford it.

http://www.simons-rock.edu/about

About Simon's Rock
No other college in the country does what we do.

We’re a small, selective, supportive, intensive college of the liberal arts and sciences in the middle of the Berkshires, one of the nation’s cultural and natural treasures. All of our 400 students come to us after 10th or 11th grade in high school. We give them a broad-minded, paradigm-shifting education; faculty trained in the country’s best universities; inspired and inspiring classes; first-class facilities for the sciences, the arts, and athletics; and an astonishing range of opportunities for conducting specialized research and gaining hands-on experience. We offer 43 concentrations, many of them interdisciplinary; our academic program leads to an AA or a BA.

 

[seashoreCM]

They have boarding school for grades 9-12. Suppose you think of college as grades 13-16. It would not be farfetched to have an on campus environment that fit the age group grades 11-14.

I would not recommend that a high schooler accelerate into a true college environment full time unless he is good in all normal high school subjects, not just far ahead in a few for example math and history.

 

[Maleficient]

I completely agree about dual enrollment being the better option - my oldest DD is starting high school in the Fall and I can't imagine her leaving after 2 years to go to a college campus! But because she's already taking 3 high school level courses, I know by the end of 10th grade she could have her HS courses mostly completed, so being able to work toward an AA degree tuition free would be great! That's one more reason I'm trying to find my career change in Florida!

 

[Sparx]

i graduated in three years (from a four year program.) but i think dual enrollment would be a better option.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

The OP specifies community college, so the students most likely wouldn't be going away to go to college. Very few community colleges have on-campus housing.

I don't really see much difference between dual enrollment and going to a community college if the student is still living at home and commuting to school. A student who is dual enrolled in high school and community college but going to classes at the CC is probably not stopping by the HS on the way to the CC. The main difference would be in the paperwork, not the classes themselves.

I do think dual enrollment is better than getting a diploma after 10th grade, but I think the option of starting CC after 10th grade is better than making all students wait until after 12th if they are ready after 10th or 11th.

 

[auntie]

I wrote a paper about this about 7 years ago for college. The assignment was to write about what you envision the K-12 system to look like in 2020. I included this type of thing in my paper.

I think it's a good idea to have this option for kids who are academically ready (and mature enough) to handle college at age 16.

Oh, and for what it's worth, some programs like this already exist, except that the student does not get a diploma after 10th grade. They get it after being dually enrolled in grades 11 and 12 along with community college. It is possible to get their diploma and an AA at the same time at the end of 12th grade. Other students will get their diploma but may not have enough credits for the AA just yet, but they have a good start on it. The program I know of is in Washington State and is called Running Start.

I wish this was an option for my son who is currently a high school senior.
I know my cousins kids in Florida have the dual enrollment and her son is taking college courses at the community college and will have his Associates when he graduates from high school.
By the time they reach their senior year here ...they are taking electives and filler classes. They actually spread out their requirements for Social Studies and English so that they have to take them in their senior year..or frankly, I don't think the kids would bother to show up.
When I met with my son's counselor last year, I questioned his schedule for this year. She told me they really should offer Seniors a half day of school..that most of the kids are just filling up their schedules with things they don't need for graduation, but are required to be in school a certain amount of hours.
My son actually took "work experience" which means he's leaves school two classes early in order to go to work. Given that he has lunch for his last period, it puts him back home at 12:30 pm this year. What a waste.
He's so bored with school. He took the last of his Regents exams last year..and he's basically waiting to finish up his English requirement to graduate.
Would have been nice if he could have gotten a jump on his college courses.

 

[tinkerfan1]

Wow! Interesting. My now 10th grader would be all over taking that test.

 

[merryweather20]

I wish this was an option for my son who is currently a high school senior.
I know my cousins kids in Florida have the dual enrollment and her son is taking college courses at the community college and will have his Associates when he graduates from high school.
By the time they reach their senior year here ...they are taking electives and filler classes. They actually spread out their requirements for Social Studies and English so that they have to take them in their senior year..or frankly, I don't think the kids would bother to show up.
When I met with my son's counselor last year, I questioned his schedule for this year. She told me they really should offer Seniors a half day of school..that most of the kids are just filling up their schedules with things they don't need for graduation, but are required to be in school a certain amount of hours.
My son actually took "work experience" which means he's leaves school two classes early in order to go to work. Given that he has lunch for his last period, it puts him back home at 12:30 pm this year. What a waste.
He's so bored with school. He took the last of his Regents exams last year..and he's basically waiting to finish up his English requirement to graduate.
Would have been nice if he could have gotten a jump on his college courses.

We had teachers visiting from the states all the time when I was in High School to audit our IB classes in hopes of implementing them in their school. They were always bewildered talking to us and hearing about our schedules. What they said happened at at their schools was much the same as you described. We actually had 5 years of High School in order to attend University. A college hopeful could leave after 4 years or stay for 5 and "skip" much of their first year courses.

I had no trouble filling my schedule for the required 5 years of courses I needed. If I had have done what your son was doing I wouldn't have gotten into my University of choice. How about they just teach them something while they're still in High School?

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i think it's a good idea. there's a lot of classes that don't need to be taken, they're just electives

 

[MomofKatie]

Our county has a magnet school called Early College HS. Kids must go through an application and interview process if interested, and the school has a very small enrollment. All classes are at the local CC- kids enter in 9th grade, and go through a 5 year program of HS and college level classes. When they are through, they have a HS diploma AND a college Associates degree. There is no cost to students- all fees, books, and expenses are paid by the public school system.

We are very interested in this program for DD. She is just in 6th grade now, but we are already doing lots of research and talking to friends who have kids in the school. DD is young for her grade- she has a September bday and entered Kindergarten when she was 4- so wouldn't mind 5 years of HS. she'd still graduate at 18 (and would be able to enter University as a junior).