Archives For high school

Electives That Matter, A Surprising Revelation

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So many to choose from!!

Electives can be a source of confusion. Beyond the “big four” – that is, English, math, science, and social studies – which electives are best for your teen? Should you take foreign language? What about dual-enrollment or AP classes? The literature and movie studies class might be fun. And here is a class for a hobby that I’m interested in. What’s a student to do?

There are usually some required electives. For example, in Alabama a high school graduate must complete at least 8 elective courses to earn their diploma. However, 2.5 to 4.5 of these courses must come from specific areas like arts, health, and physical education. Ultimately, the student only has a handful of elective hours to choose from.

Choosing electives wisely really comes down to the student’s aspirations. A college-bound student will choose differently than a career student. Even college-bound kids might choose differently from one to the other.

Those headed to college definitely need to take foreign language. Most universities require one or two years for full admission. I think foreign language will be valuable to everyone. The global economy and shrinking world almost requires it.

Another choice for college-bound kids is AP courses. Take the class and pass the test at the end of the year, and earn college credit. In some cases, the AP course will replace one of the core classes like English or math. In my son’s instance, he only has AP Calculus as his math choice for his senior year. Because of the college credit, this is a natural fit for college-bound students. To learn more, check out the AP website.

One caution for adding AP electives – there is a lot of work. An AP course will resemble the content and workload of a freshman-level college class. There will be extra homework, reading, and projects. A busy, involved student taking more than one AP course at a time can be overwhelmed.

Electives can also be used to learn a trade. Things like carpentry, auto repair, and electricity are taught as electives. Office education and computer applications courses may appeal to both college and career students. Kids can also learn personal finance, home economics, and other life skills.

Students may also choose a specialty track. Band and choir students generally take arts for all four years. Athletes likely will take strength training or conditioning electives. Even career or vocational kids may take two or three years in their trade.

If all else fails, a student might opt for electives that appeal to their interests. Individual and team sports, photography, journalism, mythology and more are available as electives. Students can also be teacher, library, or office aides. Finally, drama classes are available for would-be thespians.

To make the most out of your electives, begin planning with the freshman year. Some electives are in a series of two or three classes, so you’ll want to take those at the right time. Miss one and you may not have the chance to take it again. Also be aware that some electives have additional fees.

So what are the electives that matter? In short, it depends on the child. No single list will answer that question. Choose what matters to the child. Consider college plans first. Career and work interests come next. Then interests and hobbies should complete the list. Talk with your child to make the best choices.

Discussion Question – What electives do you think are most important for high school students to take? Join the conversation!

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You’ve Got Your Diploma, Now What?

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In the last couple of weeks, high schools across America have graduated the class of 2012. As the tassels were moved to the right side of the cap, thoughts about “what next” drifted through the minds of graduates and their parents alike. In this article, I’ll look at five of the most common scenarios for each year’s graduating class and give some tips that you might not have thought of for each.

An interesting article came out a couple of weeks ago on MSN Careers about what happens after high school. According to the article, fully 68% of all 2011 high school graduates were in college as of October 2011. Among black, white, and Hispanic students, each category averaged between 66% and 67%. However, 86.7% of all Asian students were enrolled in college, speaking to the cultural importance of education among the Asian community. As I build out my list below, I’ll work from what I perceive as the most common scenario to the least common.

You’re going to college in the fall. You’ve been admitted and orientation is just around the corner. Some points of consideration for students in this category revolve around how to pay for college and how to get off to a good start. I recommend enrolling for classes as soon as possible and buying books and required materials in the most economical manner. School-based scholarship deadlines have passed but students should continue to seek other resources like private scholarships to lessen the financial burden for the fall. Begin to look for part-time work; according to the article mentioned above only 38.8% of those in college were working or looking for work.

Not going to college, working instead. There is no shame at all in going straight to the workplace. According to the same article mentioned above, 68.7% of those students who did not continue on to college held some type of job. If you are working at this age, it likely is not the dream job that you someday hope to hold. However, don’t let that deter you; be taking stock of your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions and be proactively moving towards a career that matches all of those. Check out these books, both on my Resources page: 48 Days To The Work You Love (for job hunters) or No More Dreaded Mondays (for budding entrepreneurs) both by Dan Miller.

Wanting to go to college but no solid plans. Maybe you didn’t perform as well as you would have liked in high school. Perhaps you were not admitted to your school of choice and gave up at the time, but now you’ve regrouped. Or, the money just isn’t there to go to your number one school. A great solution for those in this situation is to go to a local community college in the fall. The cost is much less than a four-year university and there are programs to ensure that your credits are accepted when you transfer. Please, whatever you do, don’t take out a student loan to cover any deficits. Read this article for reasons why.

Military. An excellent option, this one overlaps the working category. And if you have college plans, the Post 9/11 GI Bill is an AWESOME plan to go to school after you separate. While you are in the military, if you can choose a specialty that lines up with your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions, rather than simply taking the recommendation based on your ASVAB scores.

Service and volunteerism. The motivations and intrinsic rewards from service can be excellent, and everyone should be involved at some level in serving others. Especially since you’re giving your time away, choose something that you are passionate about and love doing. Be careful, though, not to hide behind your volunteer roles to avoid moving into the workplace and becoming independent. Reference the same books listed above to find work that fits you.

All in all, in whatever path you choose you are entering a new phase of life. College is certainly an excellent option but is by no means a guarantee of success, so if you aren’t starting in the fall then don’t let that discourage you. In fact, if you aren’t ready for college or don’t yet know what you want to do with your life, then exploring one of the other options will be much better than spending all that money to “find yourself.” Congratulations class of 2012 – go out and change the world!

Application Question – Are you or your new graduate accepting college without a plan? Have you considered the options listed above and the tips associated with each?

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Christmas ideas for the Affluent Student – Part 2

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Here we are, just ten days away from Christmas. Many of you may be looking for some gift ideas. To support the philosophy of The Affluent Student, I’ve put together this two-part post to provide you with some gift-giving ideas. In our last post we talked about some ideas for your younger students, and today we’ll look at our teens and adolescents.

Your middle school student is always a tough one. They will be using more technology, be involved in more activities, and building their social circle as they head into their teens. Most likely the question you’re really trying to answer is whether to treat them as children or as young adults. Use their developmental maturity as a guide. Some ideas will remain at each stage, like age-appropriate books. They might love an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook at this age, or you might go all out and get them a desktop or laptop computer. If you open up internet access to them, make sure you’ve setup all of the safety boundaries as discussed here. It’s my opinion they don’t really need a cell phone at this age, but again that’s an individual decision based on activity and maturity level. Board games will give them a chance for face-to-face interactions with their friends and families in a relaxed, fun, competitive atmosphere. You could buy them a magazine subscription based on their interests, or a trip to a summer camp or some supplies and accessories based on their interests.

In high school, you can begin to gift your child much like you would an adult. They love to make their own decisions so you can give them gift cards to their favorite stores. This will also give them an opportunity to manage the money through those types of decisions, and it creates teachable moments for you as well. It also lets them begin to see how much things like clothes, shoes, food, and other items cost so that they have a new appreciation on how much life costs. Books remain a big deal because leaders and successful people tend to read throughout their lifetime. A devotional, new Bible, and business and self-help books would be terrific – how many of those books have you read and wished that you would have known when you were a kid? By now they would love a cell phone if they don’t have one, and the closer they get to college the more they will need a laptop computer to go with them.

I believe that gift giving for The Affluent Student can support their educational efforts and still be fun and thoughtful. These gift ideas show your commitment to their development, growth, and success throughout life, most of them have little to do with technology, and they give you as parents numerous opportunities to strengthen your relationship with them. I do think that it is important to keep control over the gift giving to set and manage expectations properly as your child enters adulthood. And finally, remember that Christmas is all about giving – now is the time to teach that to your child.

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SAT cheating scandal

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In case you missed the news, there have been arrests in New York state over an alleged SAT cheating ring. A handful of high-school graduates have accepted money to take the college entrance exam for current students. Both the test takers and those who paid to have the test taken face charges under the scandal. To me, this is a sad case. The alleged test takers, who all are very intelligent and ambitious young people who had a lot going for them, have now permanently scarred their lives. They are being charged as felons, and if convicted they will be unable to vote, unable to hold public office, the right to bear arms, travel abroad because they cannot get a passport, and will be unable to hold many jobs in addition to spending time in prison. Even those charged with misdemeanor counts (the children who paid to have the test taken for them) will find that their lives have been impacted by this decision.

As important as the entrance exam score is, it doesn’t compare to personal integrity. This is a prime example where the perception of short-term gain led to long-term pain. The current students paid $1500 to $2500 to others to take the exam for them for the chance to get into a prestigious university or to qualify for more scholarships. For these students, they may have thought that it was worth it. I believe, though, that even if they had gotten away with it, these are the types of students who would wind up either dropping out of college or skimming their way along the bottom. All for the sake of getting college paid for, they put it all at risk and will now pay for it the rest of their lives.

One last bit of commentary – where are the parents of those who paid to have the SAT taken for them in this situation? At best, these parents are completely out of touch if their children can spend anywhere between $1500 to $2500 dollars and the parents not know where it is going. At worst, they were accessories to the fact, and my guess is that as this story unfolds that we will learn that some of the parents knew fully what was going on. Regardless of where they land on the scale of possibilities, parents of minor children are responsible for their children’s activities. This should have never happened if these parents were truly looking out for the best interests of their children.

We can all argue that there are flaws in the system, no doubt about it. Parents, no matter how they perform in the classroom, please encourage your children to remain on the high road. Resorting to cheating in its many forms or plagiarism does nothing but undermines your character. If they’re caught, they pay the consequences directly. If they aren’t caught, then it could start a downward spiral where they feel like they can get away with more and more over time. As we’ve discussed throughout this blog, there are many ways to get into and pay for college, and there are many alternatives to the traditional four-year degree at the big-name school. It just isn’t worth it to try and cheat your way to the top.

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Motivation

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As much as I’d like to give you a the magic formula to what works, this and other blog posts is a collection of things that have worked for us and what has worked for others.  Motivation comes from within.  How, then, do you get a child excited about school when they just don’t seem to care?  When you know that your teenager is perfectly capable of doing the assignments in class but just won’t?  When you know that your middle schooler put that homework in their backpack because you saw it there and somehow it didn’t make it to the teacher?  When your third grader just refuses to read although the book is easy and you’ve heard them read much harder things in their life?

Motivation that we attempt to create in our child or someone else is known as extrinsic motivation.  That is, it is externally provided.  That sort of motivation is hard to sustain.  For one thing, as in the middle schooler or teenager examples above, you’re not there at school to provide the motivation.  And the promise of reward doesn’t always work either.  The most effective rewards and consequences are the ones that happen immediately, but again you can’t always be there to provide that immediate feedback especially when it comes to school.  We have to find a way to make learning and success a driving component of your child’s personality.  Until we can do that, it will be very difficult to sustain long-term success.

If extrinsic motivation is ineffective, how do we create intrinsic motivation?  For one, learning has to be fun for your child.  Sometimes they won’t have the most exciting and dynamic teacher but you can help at home.  Look at their learning environment at home and see what you can do to make it as comfortable and conducive to learning as possible.  Make every attempt to understand their learning styles.  Ask them to evaluate their own work.  Don’t always jump in to correct their work and never criticize their efforts.  If you’re asked, go ahead and assist them with whatever they are struggling with but resist the temptation to do their work for them.  Certainly don’t use additional homework, reading, or homemade assignments as punishment (remember writing sentences as a kid?).  Because these activities are either exactly or closely tied to what they do in school, the very nature of using them as a punishment will affect your child’s motivation to do these activities in school.  Leave time for unstructured play so that your child can exercise and explore their creative, imaginative side.  Give your child some activities that challenge their mind and stretches them beyond what you know their abilities to be.  It will exercise the critical thinking and problem-solving part of their minds and likely motivate them to complete a challenge.  Make sure that these are age-appropriate so that you don’t introduce frustration through what they feel is an impossible task.

At some point your child should come to understand the impact of their grades and the benefits of excelling in school.  However, prior to middle school your child won’t understand the long-term implications of their school performance, so save the speeches until then.  Even then, have this discussion as a talk with your child rather than as a lecture.  Engage them in adult conversation by asking questions rather than talking at them.  Remember that we want to use middle school as a dry run for high school, so it may take them some time to “get it” and begin to succeed because they are internally driven.

Don’t rush motivation.  Be patient and let your child be a kid.  What motivates one to success or action varies from person to person, and this goes for your child as well.

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Strengthen your teacher’s bond with your child

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What better way to give your child a leg up in school than to help them bond with their teacher?  If you think back to your childhood, there were probably one or two teachers who stood out in your mind as your favorites.  Either they inspired you or challenged you to do better, but in all cases you’ll probably agree that you genuinely liked those teachers better than all others.  That affinity was built on the relationship and bonding that your teacher was able to establish with you.  It’s no different today.  Let’s look at a couple of ways that you can help build this relationship.

You know your child better than anyone else does.  You understand their personality, their likes and dislikes, their mannerisms when they are tired, agitated, angry, or confused.  You know what discipline works on them and what does not.  Feel free to share these things with your child’s teachers.  It might feel like you are making excuses for your child or asking for special concessions, but you’ll know the difference.  If you ask for them to be treated differently, that’s OK – your child is an individual.  If you ask for them to be graded differently or to be excused for not turning in some work, that’s not OK – your child had the same opportunity as all the others to do the work.

In elementary school it is much easier for this bond to be built because your child spends the majority of their day with the same teacher.  In middle and high school, it’s different just because the teachers don’t see them all day long and because they see so many kids throughout the day.  They don’t have full exposure to the subjects that your child struggles with, so it is extremely important to communicate regularly with all of their teachers in both middle and high school.  When talking about your child, stick with the guidelines above to know when you’re crossing the line with their teachers.  Let your questions drive the conversation – if you’ll just ask open-ended questions and listen you’ll learn so much about your child.

It’s very tempting when your child is busy with activities to ask for extra credit or makeup opportunities.  While it is OK to do that for legitimate reasons (such as they were simply absent from school), please avoid the resistance to do this especially during the later grades.  Encourage your child to talk to their teacher and work through any issues or difficulties that they are having.  Besides the educational learning that takes place in school, there is a social aspect which takes place where a child learns how to deal with authority, to be responsible for their own outcomes, to develop and maintain mutual respect, and so on.  By intervening too much as a parent, you can give your child several wrong messages – that they can miss deadlines and still be OK, that you’ll be there to rescue them when they are in trouble, or that they can defy authority.  Sometimes it is best to let them slip up and pay the consequences.

Talk to your children favorably about their teachers.  Encourage them to befriend their teachers.  Contrary to what your child may believe, the vast majority of teachers want them to succeed.  Most all teachers entered the profession because they have a heart for children and a desire to see them become their very best.  At some point down the road, your child may need to leverage the relationship that they formed with one or more teachers.  If nothing else, your child needs to learn how to build relationships so please do whatever you can to build those favorably.

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Why are Japanese students so smart?

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When we think of where the best students come from, we often think of Japanese students.  If we take a look at Japanese education, there are some things we can pick up on that might give our children an advantage in school.  Here are a few observations:

  • Japanese educational structure very closely follows the American system.  There are six years of elementary education, three years of junior high, and three years of high school.  However, entrance into high schools is competitive and is based on examination, interviews, and so forth, much like college.
  • Japan enjoys 100% literacy because of their emphasis on elementary education, and over 90% of children graduate from high school.
  • Japan does not segment classes based on ability or aptitude.  The only exceptions to this are schools that cater to those with disabilities (blind, deaf, or major mental handicap). 
  • Children are promoted each year, almost without exception.  Those who struggle are given extra attention and instruction.
  • Japanese students are taught a life curriculum in addition to the academic subjects.  They learn morals and instruction on how to interact properly with society and the environment around them.  Principles like manners, politeness, and respect for adults are all taught in the classroom.
  • Japanese students work in groups and are largely self-directed in terms of discipline and responsibility.  Student leaders organize groups to maintain appearance and cleanliness of the school, instilling a pride in ownership. 
  • The assumption is made that all children have equal potential to learn academically and to develop good habits.  Differences in achievement and progress are attributed to level of effort and self-discipline.

Our American classrooms, in general, fall short in teaching and developing some of these habits.  So, what things can we do as parents to approximate this experience?  Here’s what I see:

  1. Work to teach your children good habits.  Organizational skills, study skills, self-discipline and attention to detail can all be taught through example and appropriate positive reinforcement.
  2. Expect them to excel.  Don’t make excuses or concessions for them.
  3. Teach and expect manners, respect, and politeness.  Model these in your own behaviors.
  4. Teach and adhere to your moral principles.  It’s hard to expect something of a child that you’re not willing to conform to yourself.
  5. Continually talk about the importance of school.  Be involved in your child’s education.
  6. Give them the help that they need when they are struggling.  Help them focus on the behaviors and activities that will help them succeed.
  7. Teach them about work.  Give them chores and accountabilities in the home.  Show them the value in accomplishment and completion of a task.

All of this comes back to the parents playing a key role in the education of their child.  Children are a huge responsibility, no doubt about it.  If you’ll teach these things to your child, then you are preparing them for life regardless of their level of success in the classroom.  It’s never too late – start today!

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Why is Grade Point Average So Important?

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So in our last posting we talked about grade point averages (GPA) and how to calculate them.  In this posting I’ll talk about why I spent so much time to make sure that everyone understands how they are calculated.  The merit scholarship, by and large, is awarded based on a combination of your GPA and your best college entrance exam score.  The higher each of these are, the more you are eligible to receive.  However, one or the other is usually not enough to save you if the other is not good.  The exam score generally measures aptitude to perform well at college-level courses while the GPA shows the amount of discipline and good study habits; in other words, it is a measure of just how serious you are about school.  Scholarship award committees take a huge risk when they award a full-tuition scholarship to a student, and they want to be sure that they are making a sound investment.

Starting in middle school, parents and students alike can work to develop this discipline and study regime that prepares the student for the challenges of high school.  I have always told my kids as they approached high school that “this is where it all counts”.  It is so much easier to start out with a high GPA and remain there than it is to crawl your way back up.  One year of 3.0 GPA must be accompanied by a year of 4.0 GPA to balance out to a 3.5 average.  Many of the state schools use 3.75 as their top-level benchmark for the GPA side of the merit scholarship equation, ranging down to 3.25 and occasionally as low as 3.0.  These lower numbers will be rewarded at a lower level.

As you begin to apply to colleges during your junior year, you will be asked to submit an academic transcript.  Your high school GPA at that time will be used to (a) determine your admission status and (b) determine your eligibility for merit scholarships.  This is not the time to ease off, however; all colleges require a final transcript as a condition of enrollment.  Colleges have pulled previously-offered scholarships when a student’s GPA falls below the set criteria, so it is extremely important to follow through till the end.  My oldest child, for example, was #2 in his high school class up till the very last semester.  He played through till the end and moved into the #1 position of class rank, which qualified him for an additional $2000 from the college that he ultimately attended.  While not everyone can be top of their class, this is an illustration of how important GPA can be in factoring the amount of scholarship money made available to you.  Students and parents, let’s work together to polish that GPA and keep it as high as possible!

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Know Before You Go – Calculating Your Grade Point Average

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As mentioned in the last blog post, merit scholarships are non-competitive awards that schools make available to the highest-achieving students.  Typically, two components make up the merit scholarship award criteria – standardized test scores using the ACT or SAT and grade-point average (GPA).  Today we’ll focus on GPA.  To ensure that all readers understand what GPA refers to, I’ll briefly explain.  GPA is a mathematical calculation of the summary of a student’s grades.  It is calculated by assigning a numerical value to each letter grade, adding up all of the numerical values and dividing by the number of grades in the calculation.  Usually, the following table is used in assigning numerical values to a letter grade:

A = 4 points
B = 3 points
C = 2 points
D = 1 point
F = 0 points

So, as an example, let’s say that little Johnny brings home the following on his progress report:

English – B
Algebra – C
Science – A
History – B
Music – A
Phys Ed – B

Using the values given above, you would calculate Johnny’s GPA as follows:

3+2+4+3+4+3 = 19 divided by 6 = 3.16 GPA

High schools and colleges calculate an overall GPA for all classes attempted.  In most high schools, this simple calculation above would accurately reflect the GPA because one class equals one credit.  However, for colleges, another component is added.  Because college courses can have different credit hours earned, another step is factored into the calculation to include the credit hours per course.  The numeric value assigned to the letter grade for a class is multiplied by the number of credit hours to determine what is typically called the number of quality points for that class.  All of the quality points earned in a semester are added up, but instead of dividing by the number of classes taken you divide by the number of credit hours attempted.  Note that I said attempted, not just passed – most colleges calculate every attempt at a class. This becomes important if you have to pass a class with a C or better to move to the next class in sequence but only get a D this time around – you’ll have to take it again in order to move forward and both attempts will factor into your GPA and cost you tuition dollars.  Another example is shown below for college students:

English 101 (3 hours) – A
Pre-Calculus (3 hours) – B
Psych 101 (2 hours) – B
Biology (4 hours) – C
Biology Lab (1 hour) – A

The calculation for this college freshman would be as follows:

(4×3)+(3×3)+(3×2)+(2×4)+(4×1) = 39 divided by 13 = 3.00 GPA

Hopefully this gives you a little understanding as to what is involved with the GPA calculation.  As GPA is one of the major components of determining scholarship eligibility, both parents and students need to be aware of this number, how it is calculated, and more importantly how it is used in the admissions and scholarship awards process.  In the interest of time I won’t perform any additional calculations, but parents sit down with your students and show them how their GPA is calculated.  It might be beneficial to show them what happens when one or two C’s or D’s sneak into the mix and how hard it becomes to recover from a bout of laziness.  Start fast with a high GPA and keep it there!

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College Planning – Start Early!

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Usually, once a kid reaches high school, that’s when parents begin to think about college planning. In my last post, I talked about the December 1 priority deadline for scholarship applications. That holds true for high-school seniors headed off to college next year. Usually by then it’s too late to make a difference. Grades, activities, and so forth are pretty well set by then. The best approach to college planning is to start early. In fact, what I really mean is start now!  In all honesty, most parents and students put off till the last minute any effort to secure college funding. I don’t know why they are surprised when their only remaining option is student loans.

Scholarship committees look at the full body of work that a student has accomplished at least during their high school years. A variety of activities such as extracurricular or volunteer activities will apply even further back. Students should get engaged in these activities ideally during their middle school years. That way when they reach high school they’ve had an opportunity to experience a wide variety of activities. They can also begin to focus on the couple that are most important to them and be excellent at those. I am taking a bold approach that involves the students, parents, teachers and counselors in an interactive process that begins as early as sixth grade. So start the college planning process now! The time and energy that you put in will be well worth it during the spring of your child’s senior year.

If you need guidance on how to get started planning for college, you’re in the right place. At Affluent Student I have coaching packages that can be tailored to your individual needs. Check out the Services page to find out more. In the end, those that are intentional about college planning are much more likely to reach their goals!

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