> << But these kids think they can put this
>> together in no time. HELP! >>
> Interesting -- I guess another spin on this sad state of affairs would be
> that the first year of college is like additional prepatory training -- at a
> high price, for sure. The public schools have a hard time supporting the arts
> the way they should be supported. If the kids can afford it, they can try
> it. Sounds like a lot of liberal arts colleges, too...is it fair? Not
> really.
> Amy R.
It's late and I'm just home from Curriculum Committee School Board meeting.
And I'm perplexed
I am just amazed at the amount of AP courses offered in high school, they
just keep being created and created. And it's mostly at parent demand. How
foolish and pompous to think high schools can offer the kind of experience a
college course should be, just because parents want to save a few bucks.
I teach AP Art and I tell my kids what I offer, that they may get credit
for, is no where near what they will get from a art college class. I
discourage the use of the credit. Yet, I encourage the work demanded of the
AP portfolio. I went to a good art school and nothing I can do with the
time allotted for my high school class could ever equal the experience I had
in the studio classes I had in art school. I think it's a very deceiving
notion. Among my teachers in art school were Philip Pearlstein and Audrey
Flack. My theater teacher was the authority and major translator of Ibsen.
I would hate to think any kid used credit from my AP class to miss an
experience with these kinds of artists.
The whole experience of "high school' is in rapid change. We are
accommodating all kinds of requests-- from pseudo college level courses, to
cyber schools, to off campus recognition of electives.
I'm afraid those of us in the elective areas will have to do some fast and
loose thinking, to be extremely creative in designing courses , to keep our
numbers and keep out jobs.
High school to me has just become a notion of accommodating special needs
and providing remediation. More and more, every day I find the need to
justify myself.
it makes it very hard for me to ponder how to make my program better, when
mostly I have to ponder how to keep them in.
