DEAR EDITOR:
I would like to make a minor though relevant correction to The
Dispatch article last Friday (
”
Grade Weighting Back at GHS
”
).
DEAR EDITOR:
I would like to make a minor though relevant correction to The Dispatch article last Friday (“Grade Weighting Back at GHS”). Twice during the past two weeks in reports concerning whether or not advanced placement grades should be weighted at Gilroy High School, it was reported that “GPAs accurately reflect the higher standards of AP classes and encourages students to enroll in the college prep courses.”
Advanced Placement courses are not college prep courses; they are college courses. They are the same or tougher than many course offerings from local colleges and universities. Many of my former students have repeatedly stated how much more difficult the AP Biology course at GHS was than the biology class they took at college. One year’s class offered the admission my AP biology course was nicknamed “the class from hell,” and with that I roundly thanked them with a “Welcome to college!”
My other concern relates to the comments by GHS employees. Prior to the reign of the former principal, very seldom were there concerns from GHS staff about AP students avoiding electives to “pad their GPA,” or “fail to become well-rounded,” or “avoid electives like band, yearbook or choir.”
What a crock!
In my years instructing AP biology students, the biggest concern I had was that students needed to spend less time in electives such as theater, band, choir and sports and spend more time studying for their college level course with all the responsibilities that attend it. My students loved taking electives, as these were the “release valve” from the strain of taking as many as six AP courses per year. These were the classes where they could sing ‘n dance, move ‘n grove, sweat like horses while working their bodies in concert with their minds.
For those in the Gilroy community who don’t know, for a couple decades GHS has had one of the most comprehensive elective course programs in all of northern California. Students coming from out of state or private schools are overwhelmed by the elective choices afforded GHS students, and how quickly they fill up.
The majority of my former AP biology students were involved in student government (showing up for class at 7 a.m.), were multiple sport athletes, choir and band members, participants in ROP classes, yearbook and journalism members, and then worked after school or on weekends to save a little money for “other activities.” You could also throw in a few volunteer activities during the year as well.
I too, as Mr. Wayne Scott was quoted in Friday’s Dispatch, want students in AP courses “who are there for personal, professional or academic reasons,” but then, I very seldom met any AP students who weren’t there exactly for these reasons. The weighted GPA was the added bonus for students whose reasons coincided with Mr. Scott’s.
The specter of the former GHS principal will be here a couple more years. To avoid any further “messes” from the previous regime, I recommend the following to the GUSD Board of Education:
1) Convene a district AP Program Committee comprised of students, AP teachers, parents, administrators and a Board member.
2) Prepare a plan of action for: AP program growth, adding AP courses to the new high school, providing an annual budget for AP and pre-AP courses/curricula and equipment, developing an articulated pre-AP program for GATE students in the middle schools, and creating a quarterly AP informational newsletter stating the “happenings” in the AP and pre-AP programs.
3) Review all current AP program practices, and compare GUSD’s to districts where AP programs have excelled for years.
4) Act as an advisory group to the Board of Education in all aspects of the district AP program.
As the editor succinctly laid out in the May 8, 2003 editorial, the district can no longer afford to have rogue administrators “autocratically” implementing “reverse-elitist policies.” The parents in the community have done their part informing the community of problems at GHS. Now it’s the Board’s turn to reciprocate.
Dale Morejón, Gilroy
Submitted Saturday, May 17 to ed****@****ic.com
