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Gym class vs. AP Biology

CBL4

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A decision to take Advanced Placement biology instead of gym will cost a Bow High School senior her diploma, but it won't keep her from going to college in the fall.

Though Isabel Gottlieb is a good student, a trumpet player in the school band and holds varsity letters in three sports, she discovered last fall she was one gym class shy of having enough credits to graduate next month.

She asked for a waiver, but the school wouldn't budge, telling her instead she had to drop a class to take gym.

"Why would I drop an AP biology class to take P.E.?" the 18-year-old said. "It's just not on my priority list."

The missing credit wasn't caught by the school last spring when Gottlieb's schedule was set. The class in question is called BEST, or Building Essential Skills for Tomorrow, and is required for all Bow students to graduate.
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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050509/D89VBFK00.html

Interesting definition of "Essential Skills."

CBL
 
crimresearch said:
Geez..they still have a PE requirement? The ghost of JFK lives on.
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That'd be the ghost of Empire this side of the pond. In my day it was regarded as character-forming. It taught me to bunk-off, and I was otherwise the most biddable schoolboy you ask for. I didn't want to rebel, I loved learning stuff, but compulsory games taught me to slip and slide, and I'm the better for it. Apart from the smoking, which I might not have taken up otherwise.
 
I was in the exact same position when I moved to Virginia from Tennessee right before my senior year. VA requires two years of PE, and I had only had one. The guidance flunkey tried to talk me into taking sophomore PE and dropping one of my three AP classes. I refused. She decided, in the face of continuing the argument, to count a semester of "health" in TN as a full year of PE, and fudged the records accordingly.

Hee hee. So technically, my high school diploma isn't really legit. But thanks to all the AP credits, I did get to start college as a sophomore, which saved me a year of college and a hell of a lot of money. Yeah, that PE would have been such a benefit. Especially since one semester of it was driver's ed, and I had already had my license for two years at that point.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I was in the exact same position when I moved to Virginia from Tennessee right before my senior year. VA requires two years of PE, and I had only had one. The guidance flunkey tried to talk me into taking sophomore PE and dropping one of my three AP classes. I refused. She decided, in the face of continuing the argument, to count a semester of "health" in TN as a full year of PE, and fudged the records accordingly.

Hee hee. So technically, my high school diploma isn't really legit. But thanks to all the AP credits, I did get to start college as a sophomore, which saved me a year of college and a hell of a lot of money. Yeah, that PE would have been such a benefit. Especially since one semester of it was driver's ed, and I had already had my license for two years at that point.
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One of the great things about Yanks is the way they seem so everyday, similar language, same economy, same music and film references, same unintrusive government and then suddenly you find yourself knee-deep in a bog of incomprehension. There's no substantive phrase in that post that I can understand. ("Hee hee" I got, and "lot of money", everyone gets that, but do what now?)
 
CapelDodger said:
One of the great things about Yanks is the way they seem so everyday, similar language, same economy, same music and film references, same unintrusive government and then suddenly you find yourself knee-deep in a bog of incomprehension. There's no substantive phrase in that post that I can understand. ("Hee hee" I got, and "lot of money", everyone gets that, but do what now?)
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Giles?
 
I was in the exact same bloody mess when I popped over to Virginia from Tennessee right before my senior year. VA requires two years of Physical Eduction, and I had only had one. The guidance biddy tried to talk me into taking a second year of PE and rubbishing one of my three Advanced Placement classes. I said bollicks to that. She decided to cop out of the tiff and to count a semester of "health" in TN as a full year of PE, and fiddled with the records accordingly.
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Better?
 
She decided, in the face of continuing the argument, to count a semester of "health" in TN as a full year of PE, and fudged the records accordingly.
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It is good to see that common sense is not lost entirely.

I do not think my BA in Mathematics is legit either. I only got a 3 on the Math AP test which did not get me any credit at college. I skipped the first semester of calculus which is required for math majors. I kept wondering if anyone was going to make a fuss but I do not think anyone ever noticed.

CBL
 
TragicMonkey- what Capeldodger is getting at is that absolutely nothing in your earlier post translates into a direct equivalent in British education. In particular, the idea of "Driver's Education" being a subset of "Physical Education" seems downright bizarre.
 
CBL4 said:

I do not think my BA in Mathematics is legit either. I only got a 3 on the Math AP test which did not get me any credit at college. I skipped the first semester of calculus which is required for math majors. I kept wondering if anyone was going to make a fuss but I do not think anyone ever noticed.
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Very few things are actually "required" at a college, as the dean (and frequently the department chairs) usually have the authority to waive almost any regulation or requirement when the circumstances demand. I just got involved last week in a silent upgrade of a student's degree from a B.A. to a B.S. I believe the actual discussion took place out of the student's hearing and involved lines like "if you agree that he fulfilled the requirements, blink twice and I will remove the pliers from your tongue."
 
Soapy Sam said:
TragicMonkey- what Capeldodger is getting at is that absolutely nothing in your earlier post translates into a direct equivalent in British education. In particular, the idea of "Driver's Education" being a subset of "Physical Education" seems downright bizarre.
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I've only encountered that in Virginia. In the other states I've lived, they tend to alternate physical education with "health" class during the week, or they'll spend nine weeks (one quarter) on health and the rest is P.E. Virginia just decided that PE was somewhat expendable, and in tenth grade half the year, or possibly a quarter (I don't know, since I didn't have it here) was given to driver's ed.
 
I believe the actual discussion took place out of the student's hearing and involved lines like "if you agree that he fulfilled the requirements, blink twice and I will remove the pliers from your tongue."
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Could be but I think it was just overlooked.

The requirement was something like "Calculus 101, Calculus 102 and 24 hours of 200 level or higher math classes." My guess is that whoever was checking, just checked the higher level classes and I had enough.

I did not notice it until my senior year when I was making sure that I had all the requirements. I thought about asking my guidance councilor (or whatever they call them in college) but I figured that was asking for trouble.

It worried me a little bit until I got the diploma. I had visions of having to go to a community college to take the class while I working.

CBL
 
TragicMonkey said:
I've only encountered that in Virginia. In the other states I've lived, they tend to alternate physical education with "health" class during the week, or they'll spend nine weeks (one quarter) on health and the rest is P.E. Virginia just decided that PE was somewhat expendable, and in tenth grade half the year, or possibly a quarter (I don't know, since I didn't have it here) was given to driver's ed.
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Musing on the car thing ...

I read a lot of SF when I was a kid, anything I could find really, mostly US stuff, and something that struck me early on was the way a character description would so often include the car they drove. It was the same in other US novels. It was clearly a sort of widely-understood shorthand, used automatically. Cars, driving and all things pertaining thereto are fundamental to the US ... identity, for want of reach to a better word, in a way that is still not true in Europe. In fact, it's rather alien.
 
CapelDodger said:
Musing on the car thing ...

I read a lot of SF when I was a kid, anything I could find really, mostly US stuff, and something that struck me early on was the way a character description would so often include the car they drove. It was the same in other US novels. It was clearly a sort of widely-understood shorthand, used automatically. Cars, driving and all things pertaining thereto are fundamental to the US ... identity, for want of reach to a better word, in a way that is still not true in Europe. In fact, it's rather alien.
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That might be true for some, but not for me. I bought my car based on size, reliability, fuel efficiency, visibility (I like to see out the back), and cost. Wait a minute. My car is sensible, but cute. That's me!
 
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