My school district is doing a fairly good job when it comes to the academic portion of things. We are offered tons of different college classes and, last time I checked, the test scores and dropout rate was quite low. We are in debt at my school, yet we still seem to function quite well and I believe I am getting a fairly good education. The course requirements seemed to be fairly balanced with 1 year of PE required, 3.5 years history, 3 or 4 years of English (can't remember), 3 years of math, and I believe 3 years of science. We do have some requirements I think are kind of ridiculous such as our half a year fine art requirement. I do not like fine arts (like music, or painting and stuff) and I don't think I should be forced to take this class but I guess I have to if I want to graduate.
My school talks on current events in history class (comparing past history to today), yet it's not the main focus. We do have a required class senior year called Political Issues which is like a debate class thing over issues in the world today, but that can be substituted if desired with something like AP Government or some other history class offered.
In a difference of opinion to your idea RAIMIUS, I think in my school there is a lack of effort in most students when it comes to working hard in school. Most students in my school will be challenged if that's what they desire. I know that I am challenged right now, and next year (my senior year) will be even more difficult (Humanities, AP Government, AP Economics, Calculus, 4th year Spanish, Physics, etc.) Most students at my school don't chose to take these classes though and will most likely take the regular English class, as well as some easy history, math and science class. Also, since foreign language isn't required for more than 2 years, most people who don't want a challenge when it comes to foreign language don't take 3rd or 4th year language.
Most of my classes seem to still be in the low 30's. I know that quite a few students in pre-calculus (what I am taking now) drop that class within the first few weeks and bring that class size down to the 20's. I know it's not a required class, but one of my computer classes had 10 students in it (it started around 20 and dropped when people switched out).
RAIMIUS, you mention that other schools around you have all these new gadgets and such while your's does not. My school is part of a district of multiple schools (elementary, middle schools and high schools). I don't really know how many schools are in my district, but I do know it is at least 15. For us, all our funds are shared equally. Whenever somebody attends a sporting event at my school (except for students who play a sport, they get into games free) he or she has to pay a fee of like $5 I think. All that money goes into a pot and gets distributed equally among the schools in the district. While it sucks for me (I admit I go to probably the wealthiest school in our district) I do realize it benefits the schools in the areas with less income because they are treated equally when it comes to receiving funds. This has also been a bummer because Nike offered our school a contract, but our district supervisor turned them down because it was only offered to our school and not all the high schools in the district.
Unnamednewbie13, my classes generally don't try to sway me to a certain view point. I will admit, most of the teachers I have vote democrat, but they also appreciate my ideas (I have some Republican viewpoints) so it always makes for a good debate, especially in history. And also, in my history class, the class where politics come up the most, my teacher will usually argue both ways (although he admits to voting Democrat in elections and he once ran for some county office or something, I forget exactly) and I think he does a good job of letting somebody have their own viewpoints.
Well, I wish I could respond to more of the responses above mine but I need to get some sleep. I hope I did provide some insight into my school system (although it really does not matter cause it's one system out of the many).
My school talks on current events in history class (comparing past history to today), yet it's not the main focus. We do have a required class senior year called Political Issues which is like a debate class thing over issues in the world today, but that can be substituted if desired with something like AP Government or some other history class offered.
In a difference of opinion to your idea RAIMIUS, I think in my school there is a lack of effort in most students when it comes to working hard in school. Most students in my school will be challenged if that's what they desire. I know that I am challenged right now, and next year (my senior year) will be even more difficult (Humanities, AP Government, AP Economics, Calculus, 4th year Spanish, Physics, etc.) Most students at my school don't chose to take these classes though and will most likely take the regular English class, as well as some easy history, math and science class. Also, since foreign language isn't required for more than 2 years, most people who don't want a challenge when it comes to foreign language don't take 3rd or 4th year language.
Most of my classes seem to still be in the low 30's. I know that quite a few students in pre-calculus (what I am taking now) drop that class within the first few weeks and bring that class size down to the 20's. I know it's not a required class, but one of my computer classes had 10 students in it (it started around 20 and dropped when people switched out).
RAIMIUS, you mention that other schools around you have all these new gadgets and such while your's does not. My school is part of a district of multiple schools (elementary, middle schools and high schools). I don't really know how many schools are in my district, but I do know it is at least 15. For us, all our funds are shared equally. Whenever somebody attends a sporting event at my school (except for students who play a sport, they get into games free) he or she has to pay a fee of like $5 I think. All that money goes into a pot and gets distributed equally among the schools in the district. While it sucks for me (I admit I go to probably the wealthiest school in our district) I do realize it benefits the schools in the areas with less income because they are treated equally when it comes to receiving funds. This has also been a bummer because Nike offered our school a contract, but our district supervisor turned them down because it was only offered to our school and not all the high schools in the district.
Unnamednewbie13, my classes generally don't try to sway me to a certain view point. I will admit, most of the teachers I have vote democrat, but they also appreciate my ideas (I have some Republican viewpoints) so it always makes for a good debate, especially in history. And also, in my history class, the class where politics come up the most, my teacher will usually argue both ways (although he admits to voting Democrat in elections and he once ran for some county office or something, I forget exactly) and I think he does a good job of letting somebody have their own viewpoints.
Well, I wish I could respond to more of the responses above mine but I need to get some sleep. I hope I did provide some insight into my school system (although it really does not matter cause it's one system out of the many).