Grades vs learning

[IronWing]

If all else fails you could send her off to cosmetology school.

Your story sad to tell,
A teenage ne'er do well,
Most mixed up non-delinquent on the block!
Your future's so unclear now,
What's left of your career now?
Can't even get a trade in on your smile!

Angels: (La lalala lalala lalala...)

Beauty school dropout,
No graduation day for you.
Beauty school dropout,
Missed your midterms and flunked shampoo!
Well at least you could have taken time,
to wash and clean your clothes up,
After spending all that dough
to have the doctor fix your nose up!

Baby get moving (Baby get movin),
Why keep your feeble hopes alive?
What are you proving (What are you provin)?
You've got the dream but not the drive.

If you go for your diploma, you could join a steno pool.
Turn in your teasin comb and go back to high school!

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout),
Hanging around the corner store.
Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout),
It's about time you knew the score.

Well they couldn't teach you anything,
You think you're such a looker,
But no customer would go to you
unless she was a hooker!

Baby don't sweat it (Don't sweat it),
You're not cut out to hold a job.
Better forget it (Forget it),
Who wants their hair done by a slob?

Now your bangs are curled, your lashes whirled, but still the world is cruel.
Wipe off that angel face and go back to high school!

Baby don't blow it,
Don't put my good advice to shame.
Baby you know it,
Even Dear Abby'd say the same!

Now I've called the shot, get off the block, I really gotta fly!
Gotta be going to that, malt shop, in the sky!

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)
Go back to high school
Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)
Go back to high school
Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)
Go back to high school

 

[F1N3ST]

You should teach your son the way of the troll, if he really is that bright..

 

[rcpratt]

That's great, but it looks better getting A in precalc senior year than getting a D in AP calc senior year.

I don't recall disagreeing with that.

 

[destrekor]

I took a mixture of challenging courses and easy courses, and routinely put very little effort into courses that demanded it.
Honors Geometry and Honors English 9 was brutal (freshman year, I learned "Honors courses: never again")... and Pre-calc junior year put the hurt on.
Somehow I managed to walk away with a 3.5 and felt like I never put a ton of effort into anything.

If your daughter is getting below a 3.0, either she is putting very little effort into the course material, or she is just not getting it and is being murdered by the classes.

Don't worry about putting all challenging courses and no fluff on the high school transcript, getting the grades is one of the more important things if she seeks admission in a very good university or admission in a highly-competitive degree field.

 

[shortylickens]

I have noticed with more than a few classes that its possible to do something specific and get easy A's, but not actually learn anything during the entire class.

 

[quakefiend420]

i can't believe this thread made it this far without at least 3 requests for pics

 

[lxskllr]

AFAIC, learning is better than grades. No one should get an A for more than 1 quarter in a row. If you're getting an A, you're unchallenged. Straight Cs should be the goal, and you should be busting your ass to get them.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I dunno about WI, but for UC schools if you don't at the very minimum a 4.0 (Weighted) or 3.5 (unweighted) then you basically have no chance unless you are in athletics. Competition is ridiculous here.

 

[shortylickens]

i can't believe this thread made it this far without at least 3 requests for pics

You'd be amazed at all the school girls to be found with Google.

 

[TecHNooB]

Learning. If you can't actually comprehend a concept b4 an exam, resort to memorization and pray.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

if your concern is for your kid(s) to get into a semi-decent school, hard class + As = ideal, but below a certain point, easy classes + As > hard classes + Cs

 

[Cogman]

I'll just say, I've met a large amount of dumbasses that get/got straight As.

 

[zinfamous]

what kind of science does your high school teach? do they brainwash your kids into thinking that Darwin is teh devil?

 

[TecHNooB]

I'll just say, I've met a large amount of dumbasses that get/got straight As.

:sneaky:

 

[lxskllr]

If all else fails you could send her off to cosmetology school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TOxhzAm7fY

Edit:
Crap, Ironwing beat me to it :^D

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I dunno about WI, but for UC schools if you don't at the very minimum a 4.0 (Weighted) or 3.5 (unweighted) then you basically have no chance unless you are in athletics. Competition is ridiculous here.

You aren't getting into UW-Madison with a 2.8 unless there are extenuating circumstances.

One thing you should consider OP is that a 2.8 in grades 9 and 10 won't look that bad if it's followed by a much better GPA in grades 11 and 12 (i.e. 3.5+). Not saying your daughter's educational opportunities are toast if she doesn't go to Madison, but at this point, she needs to raise her grades.

 

[piasabird]

The funny thing about a GPA is some people seem very good at getting As in everything. A lot of this is not because people study harder, but because they just have a higher aptitude for learning. Studying helps but some people always have a harder time for some reason. I have seen people holding down two jobs and manage to get straight A's it always is a fresh breath of air to see a few truly bright individuals.

I never did do that well in High School. Math seemed fairly easy but I did not like much real studying. However, after 10 years in the Army and 10 years working in a Union Factory like a dog, suddenly school learning was easier. It is strange how some hard work and few lay-offs will get a person motivated.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

High school is a joke. However AP classes are good IF you pass the AP tests. I wish I took more so I could have gotten more college units so I could apply for classes earlier rather than as a freshman.

Btw some schools look at GPA more and some look at essay more. I got denied to UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Berkley, but I got into UCLA. I could have gotten into UCB cause they sent me a letter asking for a letter of rec and extra info, but I had gotten into UCLA already so I never sent stuff in.

 

[BoomerD]

Unfortunately, GPA and the tests in school don't really measure how much you learned...they measure how well you do on tests.

Some people just freak out at tests, no matter how much they studied or how well they know the material.

OP, back to your original question...

Grades vs learning

My kids are in HS. I'm encouraging them to take all of the math/science and advanced classes they can. It's fine for my son because he's really bright. For my daughter, it's dragging down her grades a bit and could inpact her college choices.

So for my daughter, her grades are being sacrificed for learning. Am I naive?

At this point, the question is..."IS she learning by taking the harder classes?"

Remember, not everyone is cut out to be a science or engineering major...for some people, Liberal Arts IS the right area of study...

It's not that they're stupid, but more that they're just not "wired" for the hard sciences and math.

Maybe a trip to the counselor's office for some interest/aptitude testing is in order.

 

[borisvodofsky]

My kids are in HS. I'm encouraging them to take all of the math/science and advanced classes they can. It's fine for my son because he's really bright. For my daughter, it's dragging down her grades a bit and could inpact her college choices.

So for my daughter, her grades are being sacrificed for learning. Am I naive?

Yes you're extremely Naive... If a person does not do well in school.. that means 2 things: 1, they don't care about learning, and 2, they're not learning.

Most girls will end up taking the easy way in college, and get some crummy degree like psychology / history / communications. if they're lucky with that, they can get married and be a baby machine.

Explain this to her as early as possible. If she's especially beautiful, then you'll have nothing to worry about,, IF NOT... please make sure she studies hard in subjects other than "psychology / history / communications."

 

[borisvodofsky]

She's an excellent writer. Hopefully, the admissions people read the essays (I assume there are essays these days for college admissions?).

She's a junior so she knows she has to buckle down this year.

This is rediculous, If you were the person reading 2000xx apps, how much time do you put into each "essay." NO MATTER HOW GOOD they are. :\

SAT is FIRST
GPA score is SECOND
SAT II is THIRD
AP Test 4th
Extracurricular: only works if she's a STAR athlete/artist/dancer.

If she's not especially good at sports/extracurricular, she's better off spending that time studying something important.

ALSO find her an ASIAN math coach,, I don't believe asians are especially good at math, however THEY know EXACTLY how to Beat the TEST

The verbal section of the SAT is ridiculously easy if you're born in America/ are white. MATH section is only easy if you are coached for it.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Can't believe im putting good advice for this OP, but oh well.

See if she's interested in nursing/PA/NP/Pharm/dental/dental assistant, a lot of my female friends switched into PA or NP or Pharm instead of medicine because its a lot easier and you're allowed to have a family life as well. If she's interested in something like that its a matter of getting the prereqs knocked out (usually just AP bio, chem, and english) and applying to it as an undergrad major.

 

[TecHNooB]

This is rediculous, If you were the person reading 2000xx apps, how much time do you put into each "essay." NO MATTER HOW GOOD they are. :\

SAT is FIRST
GPA score is SECOND
SAT II is THIRD
AP Test 4th
Extracurricular: only works if she's a STAR athlete/artist/dancer.

If she's not especially good at sports/extracurricular, she's better off spending that time studying something important.

ALSO find her an ASIAN math coach,, I don't believe asians are especially good at math, however THEY know EXACTLY how to Beat the TEST

The verbal section of the SAT is ridiculously easy if you're born in America/ are white. MATH section is only easy if you are coached for it.

I'm an abc and I disagree with this.

 

[borisvodofsky]

She took physics as a 10th grader and is taking pre-calc this year, so she's mastered the basics.

SAT math only covers up to 8th grade stuff. MATH COACH, GOGOGO

 

[PhineasJWhoopee]

You aren't getting into UW-Madison with a 2.8 unless there are extenuating circumstances.

One thing you should consider OP is that a 2.8 in grades 9 and 10 won't look that bad if it's followed by a much better GPA in grades 11 and 12 (i.e. 3.5+). Not saying your daughter's educational opportunities are toast if she doesn't go to Madison, but at this point, she needs to raise her grades.

She wants to be a large city, and she thinks Madison is too small. UW Milwaukee might be a possibility.

9th grade was rough for her as I changed jobs and was apart from the family and last year she changed schools. The girls were pretty crappy to her, so that didn't help.

I don't think they translated her grades properly from her previous school so I need to straigten that out. Plys, gym was P/F at her old school while gym is graded here. That's a disadvantage for her too.