If taking math, science and engineering courses requires students to sacrifice their GPAs and class standing, it should be no surprise that many choose other courses of study.
Choose? As far back as 15 years ago my two sons were actively discouraged from taking math and science courses in a Bay Area high school because (to quote their 'counselor' "If too many take the hard courses our school will decline."
While the logic of this escapes me, I'm glad I insisted...one son is now a senior engineer, the other finishing his doctorate.
It's more than grade inflation influencing college decisions; a lot is incompetent high school counselors.
I don't think that this is really new. I remember being in college in the 70's, and knowing that majoring in chemistry would probably bring my GPA down. I think that chemistry was the main major that did that. (We didn't have engineering and I don't know about physics)
Choose? As far back as 15 years ago my two sons were actively discouraged from taking math and science courses in a Bay Area high school because (to quote their 'counselor' "If too many take the hard courses our school will decline."
ReplyDeleteWhile the logic of this escapes me, I'm glad I insisted...one son is now a senior engineer, the other finishing his doctorate.
It's more than grade inflation influencing college decisions; a lot is incompetent high school counselors.
I don't think that this is really new. I remember being in college in the 70's, and knowing that majoring in chemistry would probably bring my GPA down. I think that chemistry was the main major that did that. (We didn't have engineering and I don't know about physics)
ReplyDelete