In Praise of 13th Grade

[mominatrix]

it's fascinating.


when I went from a very blue collar public high school, where kids mostly didn't go to college, to a very blue-blooded new england liberal arts college, one of the things I learned about were kids who did a "post-grad year" at private high schools, in order to better prepare them for college.


It always struck me that the kids of privilege were given the opportunity to get their shit very much together before starting in college, yet the kids who probably needed the extra attention were the least likely to get it.

[LoveTrains]

Many prep schools offer a "pg" year which is truly an extra year of high school. PG stands for post-graduate. It's often done to improve sports and admission chances at college.

[rugbywife]

Lots of kids here do victory laps. They still did them when we had 13 grades and not 12 (DH, born in 84, was the last year to have grade 13).

[tres3]

I did this 20+ years ago. I did an exchange year.  Best thing ever and I managed to graduate from college in 3 years.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 23, 2014 9:11:08 GMT -5 tres3 said:

I did this 20+ years ago. I did an exchange year.  Best thing ever and I managed to graduate from college in 3 years.

I would have loved an exchange program. A 13th year like the Slate article described, where you live at home and earn college credit but with high school type supervision? Fuck to the NO.

I can see the benefit of offering it for students who aren't quite ready to leave like the Oregon schools discussed in the article. But if it had mandated, I would have burned shit down.

[tres3]

Oct 23, 2014 9:23:31 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 23, 2014 9:11:08 GMT -5 tres3 said:

I did this 20+ years ago. I did an exchange year.  Best thing ever and I managed to graduate from college in 3 years.

I would have loved an exchange program. A 13th year like the Slate article described, where you live at home and earn college credit but with high school type supervision? Fuck to the NO.

I can see the benefit of offering it for students who aren't quite ready to leave like the Oregon schools discussed in the article. But if it had mandated, I would have burned shit down.

That is basically just starting at community college... not really 13th year.

I think gap years are way more beneficial.

That said TN is now giving free community college to any high school senior that signs up. 

[LoveTrains]

I think gap years are beneficial for people that aren't ready for college. I have a neighbor who graduated from high school at barely 17 and is taking a gap year. I think it will help her mature and be ready for college next year.

Personally for me, I have a late fall birthday and so was already almost 19 by the time I went to college. I was ready to get the hell out of NJ.

[karinothing]

I took a gap year AND started at community college. It was a great path for me. Allowed me to mature and get clean and really focus. I also LOVED community college and can't imagine being in a dorm or having the whole college life. I will encourage my kid to do a gap year/community college. Expecially if you are like me and blew off the SATs. Two years in community college and the colleges in my state didn't care about SAT scores.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 23, 2014 10:44:32 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I took a gap year AND started at community college. It was a great path for me. Allowed me to mature and get clean and really focus. I also LOVED community college and can't imagine being in a dorm or having the whole college life. I will encourage my kid to do a gap year/community college. Expecially if you are like me and blew off the SATs. Two years in community college and the colleges in my state didn't care about SAT scores.

Well, maybe you should first encourage your kid not to blow off the SATs.

[karinothing]

Oct 23, 2014 10:45:39 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 23, 2014 10:44:32 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I took a gap year AND started at community college. It was a great path for me. Allowed me to mature and get clean and really focus. I also LOVED community college and can't imagine being in a dorm or having the whole college life. I will encourage my kid to do a gap year/community college. Expecially if you are like me and blew off the SATs. Two years in community college and the colleges in my state didn't care about SAT scores.

Well, maybe you should first encourage your kid not to blow off the SATs.

lol. MAYBE.

[tres3]

Oct 23, 2014 10:49:20 GMT -5 @choco said:

Oct 22, 2014 19:55:30 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Many prep schools offer a "pg" year which is truly an extra year of high school. PG stands for post-graduate. It's often done to improve sports and admission chances at college.

I was going to say, this is definitely not new. All of the boys' prep schools I know of offer a PG year, mainly for sports reasons. My all girls' prep school called it a "Gap" year where you do an exchange after graduation. Our program was with a school in Australia.

Ours was with the English Speaking Union schools in the UK. 

The prep school gap year is pretty common and I knew a lot of boys who did it for sports and my high school obviously had girls that did it. 

[tres3]

I think traditional gap years are great but probably very much an upper middle class/rich kid thing to do. However, it gave me direction, focus and maturity.

Our state has this new push for "55" meaning 55% of the adults will have a degree or certification. The free community college for kids coming straight from high school is a great way to do this, especially in some areas where kids traditionally don't pursue higher ed.

[auntie]

Oct 22, 2014 19:55:30 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Many prep schools offer a "pg" year which is truly an extra year of high school. PG stands for post-graduate. It's often done to improve sports and admission chances at college.

At the elite high schools near me, pg years are offered to underprivilidged kids with sports potential. I don't see well developing middle class kids taking advantage.

I know quite a few kids with higher functioning forms of ASD who did high school on a 5 year plan which allowed them to get more transitional support for college while maximizing AP classes which could potentially shave a year off college later. For some kids who were anxious and immature, the plan works wonderfully, for others it's a ticket to a GED when they turn 18 and refuse to play along because they see it as humiliating. Two of my friends did this with their sons, it blew up in their faces.

[downtoearth]

Oct 23, 2014 9:23:31 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 23, 2014 9:11:08 GMT -5 tres3 said:

I did this 20+ years ago. I did an exchange year.  Best thing ever and I managed to graduate from college in 3 years.

I would have loved an exchange program. A 13th year like the Slate article described, where you live at home and earn college credit but with high school type supervision? Fuck to the NO.

I can see the benefit of offering it for students who aren't quite ready to leave like the Oregon schools discussed in the article. But if it had mandated, I would have burned shit down.

Ditto on the live at home and have parental oversight being not good. Seriously are kids that unprepared for college? I mean, my first year I did flunk a class and had to really learn to study, not just get by on the minimum, but that is part of college, right?

[tacosforlife]

Oct 23, 2014 13:00:47 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Oct 23, 2014 9:23:31 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

I would have loved an exchange program. A 13th year like the Slate article described, where you live at home and earn college credit but with high school type supervision? Fuck to the NO.

I can see the benefit of offering it for students who aren't quite ready to leave like the Oregon schools discussed in the article. But if it had mandated, I would have burned shit down.

Ditto on the live at home and have parental oversight being not good. Seriously are kids that unprepared for college? I mean, my first year I did flunk a class and had to really learn to study, not just get by on the minimum, but that is part of college, right?

Yes, that many kids really are unprepared for college after 4 years of high school. The stats cited in te article of students who start but don't finish are pretty bad.

[downtoearth]

Oct 23, 2014 13:06:07 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 23, 2014 13:00:47 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Ditto on the live at home and have parental oversight being not good. Seriously are kids that unprepared for college? I mean, my first year I did flunk a class and had to really learn to study, not just get by on the minimum, but that is part of college, right?

Yes, that many kids really are unprepared for college after 4 years of high school. The stats cited in te article of students who start but don't finish are pretty bad.

Yeah, I went and read the article .  Stats also show that ANY college is a major economic/earning potential improvement over a high school diploma, it seems that 13th grade would really help some people.  Hmmm, maybe it's not a bad idea, I would just hope that it would be focused on kids who couldn't afford college or needed the help.  The article talks mostly of the funding issues (public school/local taxes vs. higher education state funding to pay for it.)

This report illustrates that any college really does improve your earning potential...