My Open Book

How many of us can look back and think that we might possibly not have attained our full potential in life? What if we had done better in school? What if we had attended a better college or university?

The prevalent approach in modern government schools has created a culture in which 16-year-olds are deciding they aren’t going to attend university. They suspect the material will probably be too challenging. They think they don’t have the essential skills. They lack confidence in their personal ability to learn and grow in an academic environment. They are not qualified to make the right decisions!

Quite a bit continues to be said about the importance of small class size and personal attention in our schools. But small class size is merely the starting point. The most effective high schools have not primarily smaller classes, which enable far more personal attention–they have highly experienced teachers who teach more challenging material.

AP courses, established by the College Board, have been around for half a century. These are authorized college-level courses that are taught in high schools. Their popularity has increased over the decades, and they’ve come to be an essential component of the high school portfolio for anyone wishing to apply to a four year university or college. Nearly all parents believe that these particular classes and their high expectations put an excessive amount of pressure on children, still in high school. But that’s not the way it was intended to be.

If approached the right way, these courses will in reality be a great opportunity. The problem is the fact that the vast majority of high schools that provide these courses still pack 20 to 30 students into each class. So rather than being a beneficial opportunity, most students simply struggle with the work. In contrast, in cases where these courses are taught by expert teachers in smaller classes – classes with only 8 to 10 students per teacher, each student receives the opportunity to achieve success in a college level class.

A taste of this success is sometimes all it takes to turn a student’s life around. Students at the very best private high schools, such as Cambrian International Academy, have expressed on many occasions that the first class made them feel as though they could accomplish anything. They take more of these classes in subsequent years, and then find themselves accepted to leading universities in advanced standing. The AP credit transfers, and they commence college as sophomores!

Now, 16-year-olds have even more reason to make an informed decision about college. Parents need to start by making the right choices in high school.

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