Hitchhiking

I hitchhiked home Saturday with a laundry bag full of dirty clothes. They had just dropped me off at college Wednesday.
‘The board has cut so many classes at the high school there’s nothing left worth taking.’ ‘I hear there’s no electives left.’ ‘Well, there aren’t any Advance Placement classes at the high school.’ ‘Honors classes are out.’ ‘You might as well go to Washington State, there’s nothing at the high school.’
The latest round of rumors and false stories. These and more have been heard and relayed to various board members recently. Probably prompted by the board’s efforts to save enough money to keep the doors open for the next few years.
Let’s see if we can set a few things a bit straighter. Yes, we eliminated French I and Spanish IV and American Sign Language I. Decisions were based on a history of declining numbers of students in the subjects. We also backed off teaching life sciences (home economics) keyboarding and business classes at the high school, all taught in other areas of the system.
As to the Advanced Placement and Honors classes, we still have a full complement. More than any district in the county. We offer AP classes in Calculus, U.S. History, Government, Literature and Composition, Language and Composition and Biology. Last year included Chemistry.
As to honors classes, I’m told we nearly did not offer an honors English course next year owing to low numbers of students. But, when told of this possibility, students got together, spread the word that if enough students signed up the course would be offered. And it worked!
The questions are why did the interested students not sign up during the original class offerings? Why did it take a student to come forward and do our work for us? Where did our system not serve the students? Shouldn’t the system be promoting honors classes?
This board is pleased to offer classes with a reasonable number of students. Twenty is a good number that represents a responsible use of our teaching resources. Seven is not. Somewhere between those two numbers, discretion and judgment play a critical role. That is the decision left to a good manager. The board should have virtually no say in the matter where the importance of academics and student futures are concerned.
Bad information probably played a role here. And it may be playing a role in many of the above rumors and subsequent choices being made by students.
There is no question of the value of having the Post Secondary Option for high school students to gain college level credit by attending one of our local colleges for some courses. The question becomes whether it is a smart move for a student to take a few classes or switch to a full time college schedule.
For some students who are socially mature and able to make good decisions on their own about their time and study habits, it’s a good fit. For others, a part time exposure is a great choice to get their feet wet and better determine what they want to do with their college decisions.
For many, however, a full time decision based on poor or bad information may prove unsatisfactory. Especially if they are not socially ready to participate in an environment with classmate age ranges from the teens to the sixties.
When my Freshman homeroom teacher Mr. Graham witnessed my anxiety over not fitting in to the social circle at high school he advised, “Don’t worry, you’re just a late bloomer.”
These many years later I still take comfort in his advice. The hitchhiking was my way of delaying a real college experience for another year. I needed it. With $4 gas and persistent feelings of social ineptness I may resume hitchhiking.