I don't remember there being less academic "tracks" in high school back in the day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracking_(education)
Are these commonplace now? Were there tracks in your high school?
You might also enjoy...
-
Not in my high school, but I went to a weird magnet school for science and tech and we didn't even have class rankings (i.e. no valedictorians, etc.). We were tracked in middle school, though, and even late elementary school, like fourth and fifth grade. No one told us which "track" we were in, but everyone always kind of knew which classes were the advanced ones and which were...less advanced. I'm not really sure how I feel about that being done in elementary school because I'm wondering if it's just setting kids up to not do as well academically for their whole school career by placing them in a less "rigorous" track from the beginning
-
To some degree yes.
As I mentioned before, if you were in the Gifted program, you were put on a more advanced math track (took high school Algebra while in middle school which freed you up for a year of Calc or Stat as a senior in high school).
-
I've never even heard of this!
We had honors classes, and remedial classes. And I guess people formed their own "track" so to speak, by the extracurriculars that they took - for example, I took band, choir, and art, whereas my DH took all the shop type classes. Other than that, there weren't real specified tracks.
-
No real tracking in private school. You could pick and choose your own classes based on your personal interests, though. Is that self tracking?
-
Not exactly. There were honors classes and AP classes but you didn't have to be in all regular classes or all honors, you could pick and choose.
-
My school was similar to @Leialou: . Pre-AP and AP courses were offered, but you didn't have to take them all. You could pick and choose. You also got to choose your electives, but the main course was the same for everyone.
-
I meant more, was there a "vocational track" at your school. There seems to be a lot more of that in high school these days...
-
I thought it was very interesting in Albania where I lived for years that all high schools were divided. There was an arts school, a languages school, a technical school, and a vocational school. That's it, there are no general high schools. You (or your parents) pick your career at age 14.
-
In middle school, certain kids were put into algebra instead of regular math. In high school you picked your own classes, but there were lots of AP courses and higher level classes (like chem2) you could choose. It was pretty much the same people in the AP courses so it was kind of like tracking.
-
@mrbee: we did have college prep and tech prep. Kids in tech prep took more tech electives and they were usually in the same area. There was shop, welding, wood shop, home economics, and some sort of day care type classes. I think there was a hair shop too.
-
The high school in our current town has several different tracks, depending on what vocation the kid is interested in pursuing. For instance, there's a dental hygenist program, a car maintenance program, a media and design program, etc...
We didn't have anything like that when/where I went to school. Of course I went to a tiny school in the middle of nowhere...
-
I was tracked from 4th grade on (in England) and in 9th- 10th grade (in Canada).
When I moved to the US in 11th grade, there was no tracking instead there were AP classes that could be chosen, so it was "self tracking"I love tracking!!!! If there's something I hated in school more than anything, is when people asked silly questions in class. Tracking helped keep everyone mostly on the same page and we progressed at a similar pace- no waiting for others!
-
We had Advanced, General and Remedial(?). General meant that you couldn't take courses for university admittance (i believe they've gotten rid of these courses since i left) and your post-secondary options were community college/vocational school. Advanced meant that you'd be on track to applying to university.
-
Oh, we had a ton of vocational classes. We had accounting, entrepreneurship, welding, mechanics, interior design, child care etc. there was also a program where you could get credits for interning at local businesses during the school day. ,
-
There was definitely a vocational track in my school. Students could learn cosmetology, welding, building construction, auto body, among others. We also had honors, college prep, "regular" (I forget what it was called), and remedial tracks. You could bounce around the different tracks though (usually people would take college prep and honors/ap classes together to lighten the load a little bit).
-
Yes we were absolutely tracked. To some extent it was by choice since students who knew they weren't going to college could choose the vocational route - or not. Otherwise we had three categories for all classes and you were asked to join the higher one if you excelled. You could also choose to take more of a certain subject like math or art with how our scheduling worked.
-
I remember that we had 2 different versions of math in my high school. There was "applied" which was lower level and "principles" which was higher. Then in grade 12 they offered calculus but it was more just an option for those who wanted it...
So no, not really. You could choose whatever you wanted to take so long as you had the proper number of credits and took grade 12 english (can't graduate without it). Out counselors might "suggest" classes if they see that you are registered in something that might not be the best fit, but that's all.
-
We track. In grade 8 (getting ready for high school) the teacher recommends which track they think a student should enter and the parent has to approve it. If one is in the lower track starting out they can switch to the higher-achieving track by taking bridge courses over the summer.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
18 comments