Student sues over summer homework...

[Ldlane]

Cnn.com

Student sues over summer homework

Earlier this month, Peer Larson, a 17-year-old high school student from Hales Corners, Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit asking that officials from the state schools superintendent on down to his local school district and even his math teacher be ordered not to assign homework over the summer.

 

[Displaced Bama Fan]

Slacker.

 

[CrimsonNan]

Cnn.com

Student sues over summer homework

Homework in the summer? We never had homework in the summer. Summer is for swimming, camping, playing outside, picnicing, whatever - not studying I'm not saying he should SUE, but gimme a break. Why can't kids be kids, when they're kids. What's the rush?

 

[NYBamaFan]

First, if the schools did their job properly, a student shouldn't need to do ANYTHING to prepare for a precalculus class if the prerequisite courses had been taken.

Second, if the kid didn't want to do the work, he should have dropped the class. He will not need the class to graduate or to get into college. And, if he is just getting to precalc at age 17, he isn't going to be an engineer anyway, so no real loss.

I agree with Nan. Summer is for kids. The kids and their parents should be deciding how to prepare the students for the next fall, not the school. It looks like this kid worked through the summer, so you can't label him lazy.

 

[Ldlane]

First, if the schools did their job properly, a student shouldn't need to do ANYTHING to prepare for a precalculus class if the prerequisite courses had been taken.

Maybe the school did their job, but he didn't handle his part of the bargain. You can't force someone to learn. Education is a two way street where the teacher agrees to teach and the student and parents must take care of the other half of the deal. Maybe the parents should pay more attention to their childs education if he isn't taking the right classes. But, this sounds like it was something that may have been agreed upon at the end of that school year by both parties and when the school attempted to hold the student accountable for the agreement the parents got mad.

 

[NYBamaFan]

this sounds like it was something that may have been agreed upon at the end of that school year by both parties and when the school attempted to hold the student accountable for the agreement the parents got mad.

My point was that this should not be necessary. The only way that I would agree with the school on this would be if the student passed the prerequisite courses, but agreed with the faculty that he needed more work if he wanted to take the precalc class. I doubt that this happened here because a student willing to agree to something like that probably would have been motivated enough to get the work done.

I suspect that this work is required of ALL students going into precalculus. That is my problem. If the students have taken, and passed, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Trigonometry, they should be ready for precalculus. In other words, the summer work should not be necessary.

Not all kids and parents are unsupportive partners in education. If this kid took those prerequisite classes, he and his parents are probably among the better half...

 

[TideHead]

Second, if the kid didn't want to do the work, he should have dropped the class. He will not need the class to graduate or to get into college. And, if he is just getting to precalc at age 17, he isn't going to be an engineer anyway, so no real loss.

I graduated HS five years ago, and precal was required to graduate. And, I did not take it until I was a senior.

 

[NYBamaFan]

I graduated HS five years ago, and precal was required to graduate. And, I did not take it until I was a senior.

The course must have changed dramatically since my youth. Did you also take Algebra I & II, Geometry and Trigonometry? It is just hard for me to believe that a school would require more than 4 advanced math classes to graduate.

 

[TideHead]

The course must have changed dramatically since my youth. Did you also take Algebra I & II, Geometry and Trigonometry? It is just hard for me to believe that a school would require more than 4 advanced math classes to graduate.

We had Algebra I in 9th grade, Geometry in 10th, Algebra II in 11, and Precalculs in 12th. Tirgonometry was blended into Geometry and Algebra II.

 

[NYBamaFan]

Ahh, that explains alot. Precalculus was mostly advanced trigonometry in my day. We didn't get into basic functions (calculus) until the second half of the year. In fact, you had to get your Trig teacher's signature to even apply for the precalc class, since it was considered an advanced class and there was limited room.

The world changes as time marches on...

 

[Piglet]

Once again, the charge is "looking bad", and everybody involved is guilty.

 

[bamabake]

This is in line with "conservative" Hillary Clinton floating a 4 day work week to the public.