Allowing gifted students to skip high school in Calfornia

Contra Costa Times ^ | June 19, 2002

[Lizavetta]

SACRAMENTO - California's brightest students might be allowed to skip from elementary school directly to college, missing high school altogether, under legislation recently approved by the Assembly.

Students of any age, even as young as kindergarten, could take the state's high school proficiency examination under the bill, AB2607, written by Assemblywoman Lynne Leach, R-Walnut Creek.

[Lizavetta]

As much as I think that today's high school is often nothing more than extended day care, I'm not sure I like this idea.

[Tijeras_Slim]

To me this says more about the quality of high school and undergraduate programs than about the intelligence of gifted primary school students.

[Born in a Rage]

I'm surprised that you don't like it! I think it will be really beneficial to homeschoolers....bump

[Gumlegs]

Remember, this is a bill regarding the California schools. There is quite a bit of evidence showing that starting with pre-K, the longer you stay in the California public schools, the less you know.

[Tacis]

What? This is just another one of the lewinskis that the Legislature regularly gives the teachers' unions, the same unions that slavishly fund the democrats and do their bidding. Here, if we allow the brightest to skip high school (or part of it) and go directly to college, then, we leave, how shall I put this, the not so brightest to be educated. By arguing that the brightest have been skimmed off, the teachers then claim that the continuing drop in public school performance is not of their doing, but an artifact of the data inputs. Let even ONE bright kid skip and ALL the teachers will shift the blame. Blackout Davis wants a million from the teachers' unions, then he's going to have to give them something worth the bribe.

[syriacus]

In theory, I like this idea.

[moyden]

But critics say the bill could worsen crowding at many community colleges, and they fear some young children, though brilliant academically, might not be ready socially or emotionally to mix with students who are much older.

Educrats are not interested in academics, they want to use public schools to promote socialism and sexualization. The call this "socialization".

[balrog666]

Why not just test all the students and promote each of them to the appropriate grade level?

[RightWhale]

When I think back on all the cr*p I learned in high school, It's amazing I can still think at all.

Or something like that.

P. Simon

[pepsionice]

This is the fix for a long-standing problem. In the period of 1700-1800s....you simply had to pass an exam and progress to next level or graduate. Everyone got into this attitude that you had to do it gradually in a 12-year period. It is quiet obvious that 5 percent of kids today are bored completely because of their capable level and they need to progress to a higher knowledge level. Why waste time and man-hours? Let the kid move up a year or two. If we could graduate 50 percent of all kids in 11 years or less...think of the savings across the whole spectrum. Fewer teachers, fewer classrooms, fewer problems.

[TxBec]

ping

[socal_parrot]

But critics say the bill could worsen crowding at many community colleges,

The California secondary education system is already in the midst of an event dubbed "Tidal Wave II". UC, CSU and CCC enrollment will increase 36% from 2000 to 2010. By 2010, 25% of all College students in the nation will attend school in California.

[thatsnotnice]

Passage of the proficiency test, which measures reading, writing and arithmetic skills, would allow students to enter community colleges as if they had obtained their high school diplomas.

I don’t know if this is an issue or not. You may need a diploma to officially enroll, I don’t know. I have known several people that were high school freshmen that enrolled in community college courses and received credit for those classes from both the community college and the high school.

The only problem they encountered was getting a special deal to leave the high school campus early to attend the classes off campus, but I think it only required parental permission and a signature from the admissions office to verify that they had enrolled in the class.

[Technocrat]

I was one of these kids. I got through HS in two years by doing an entire year of work each summer, graduating just after my 16th birthday and on to college for summer term. I was socially hopeless and without a clue, and it's the best move I could have made. You always win when your peer group is more mature than you are.

[Lizavetta]

This is just another one of the lewinskis that the Legislature regularly gives the teachers' unions, the same unions that slavishly fund the democrats and do their bidding

If this is the same Lynne Leach I'm thinking of, she was the conservative candidate for the Supt. of Public Instruction in March, and she does support independent homeschooling.

[SoothingDave]

I know, instead of high school, we could send them to Yemen to learn Arabic.

SD

[syriacus]

Why not just test all the students and promote each of them to the appropriate grade level?

Not a bad idea. I hope they still allow the smart kids to skip high school, even if the idea to test all students is not put into play.

[syriacus]

I was one of these kids. I got through HS in two years by doing an entire year of work each summer, graduating just after my 16th birthday and on to college for summer term.

Good for you! I wish more kids would do this.

[daviddennis]

As someone with a high IQ, I love this idea. I absolutely loathed high school due to all the teasing and what-not. If I could have gone to a place where I was treated more as an adult, I'm sure I would have done better academically.

As it was, I hated college because it was reviewing the same subjects I'd already learned in high school, which strikes me as an insane waste of time and money.

That's why I dropped out; the material didn't strike me as worth learning. If I'd been learning it for the first time, I would have been a lot less dissatisfied and a great deal more likely to have completed school.

D

[gracie1]

I think this is a good idea. Why spend 4 years going over the same damn thing you should have learned in elementary and Jr Hi? Taking basket weaving and ceramics? That was the extent of my 9 thru 12 education. As someone has already pointed out, in times past all you needed to do to get into collage was pass an entrance exam. There was limited public education and many never went a "public school".

I think the ones to benefit the most will be home schoolers.

[headsonpikes]

This is a great idea!

Anything that helps kids escape from the camps is a great idea.

[SoothingDave]

As it was, I hated college because it was reviewing the same subjects I'd already learned in high school, which strikes me as an insane waste of time and money.

Did you go to a "top tier" school? There shouldn't be that much remedial work. I've got to believe there was a program out there in some college which would have challenged you.

I am wary of people skipping too many grades, as they only worsen the problem of feeling socially outcast. Besides, college is the time to relax.

SD

[Kevin OMalley]

I took the CHSPE when I was 16, and moved on with my life. I refer to people who remain in high school as 5 percenters, which is to say that staying in high school only makes sense for those 5% of students who either can't pass the CHSPE (California's version of the high school proficiency exam), are trying for an athletic scholarship, are the most popular guys with the prettiest cheerleaders on their arm, or just want to goof off. The rest of the people in high school should just take the test and go to community college, start getting college credits out of the way.

It's particularly bizarre that the kids today are going to be REQUIRED to take a test when they graduate; that just means that you're wasting your time from the moment you CAN pass that test. A high school diploma means NOTHING in today's economy -- a 4 year college degree is a true necessity and the sooner you get it, the better off you are.

I have often heard that the reason to stay in high school is "so you can go to the senior prom". This is just an incredible joke -- what a waste of time. I can't believe kids waste 4 years of their lives for a chance at one night of fun, or because they're "building up cherished memories". That's a crock for many, if not most high school kids today, and they need to get the heck out of this socially repressive environment... leave it to the 5 percenters to harrass each other. For those parents who are trying to convince your kids that they're having fun when the kids know they aren't, you'll end up getting the worst end of the teens' treatment when the chickens come home to roost with their surly remarks, attitude problems, and drug use.

An 18 year old with an AA degree has a MUCH better chance of getting into the college of his or her choice than an 18 year old clueless high school grad with a 3.0 grade average. This will have the effect of increasing competition in the upper tier, which will trickle down to the lower/middle capability students. Hopefully we'll see kids in community college saying things such as, "I got out in 1 year" or "I skipped high school entirely". A bright kid with an Bachelor's degree at 19 or 20 years old will finally have an education on par with what goes on in Japan & other industrialized nations.

AB2607 is the best policy proposal for secondary school in California since the introduction of the CHSPE.