We're nearing the end of junior year, the most important year of one's high school career. I remember our history teacher, Mr. Bolos, telling us "you are all overly prepared for college." This was comforting, but not getting the score I was aiming for on the ACT was not comforting. Testing scores aside, I agree with what Mr. Bolos said, but I don't believe that everyone at our school has received the same college prep through their classes as our group of American Studies students has. New Trier high school has a very interesting leveling system, ranging from levels 2-4, including a level 9, combining levels 2, 3, and 4. I read up a little bit in the program of studies and discovered that levels 2 and 3 focus on more concrete and fact-based studies, I've learned through our American Studies course that level 4 classes are much more abstract in their curriculum. We'll be given an assignment, an 80 minute presentation for example, and it's on us to figure out how to do it. The good thing about this is that abstract and analytical thinking is what colleges are supposedly looking for. College professors are looking for a higher level of thinking than what's embedded in many of our brains, the "fact-heavy" courses that our high-schools provide. There's more on this in an article from US news, which you can read up on by clicking the link. This fact was unsettling for me, many people won't take a level 4 class at New Trier during their four years at the school. Does this mean they're at a disadvantage? Does this mean they won't succeed? Definitely not, but taking higher level courses now and understanding the content will hopefully pay off later. When I do my homework, my mom occasionally strolls over and looks at what I'm doing. "I was doing that stuff in college, good luck" she'll say. Are the classes I'm taking really preparing me this well for college? Or has the entire education system advanced forward a few years to teach us more than my parents were learning. I hope the former, but with my history teacher's reassurance, I'm sure we'll all do just fine. Thursday, June 5, 2014
Who's ready?
We're nearing the end of junior year, the most important year of one's high school career. I remember our history teacher, Mr. Bolos, telling us "you are all overly prepared for college." This was comforting, but not getting the score I was aiming for on the ACT was not comforting. Testing scores aside, I agree with what Mr. Bolos said, but I don't believe that everyone at our school has received the same college prep through their classes as our group of American Studies students has. New Trier high school has a very interesting leveling system, ranging from levels 2-4, including a level 9, combining levels 2, 3, and 4. I read up a little bit in the program of studies and discovered that levels 2 and 3 focus on more concrete and fact-based studies, I've learned through our American Studies course that level 4 classes are much more abstract in their curriculum. We'll be given an assignment, an 80 minute presentation for example, and it's on us to figure out how to do it. The good thing about this is that abstract and analytical thinking is what colleges are supposedly looking for. College professors are looking for a higher level of thinking than what's embedded in many of our brains, the "fact-heavy" courses that our high-schools provide. There's more on this in an article from US news, which you can read up on by clicking the link. This fact was unsettling for me, many people won't take a level 4 class at New Trier during their four years at the school. Does this mean they're at a disadvantage? Does this mean they won't succeed? Definitely not, but taking higher level courses now and understanding the content will hopefully pay off later. When I do my homework, my mom occasionally strolls over and looks at what I'm doing. "I was doing that stuff in college, good luck" she'll say. Are the classes I'm taking really preparing me this well for college? Or has the entire education system advanced forward a few years to teach us more than my parents were learning. I hope the former, but with my history teacher's reassurance, I'm sure we'll all do just fine. 
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It's interesting because I think that sometimes the score or grade that we receive is not enough in our eyes because of the constant pressure in the environment that we learn in. New Trier is very competitive, and so students are always unsatisfied with their accomplishments because there are always people "ahead" of us. I've heard from many New Trier graduates that freshman year in college isn't too difficult because of how much New Trier prepared them. I think that the format of the classes are much different than other schools and that the freedom that students have to pick and choose their classes and extracurriculars teaches students how to balance their priorities.
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