Graduation

[gumby]

My son just graduated from high school, where there were 12 valedictorians (4.0 GPA). Another high school in town had 32 valedictorians.

We had one valedictorian and one salutatorian back in the Stone Age.

He had a 3.5 GPA and ranked 89th in a class of about 375. When I graduated, I had the same GPA, but ranked 60th in a class of 600 (big school). Some of his mates with higher GPAs were unable to get into UW, which is where he's headed.

My daughter was one of 73 kids to have a 4.0 in 8th grade. It was like 1 in 5 students. She was chosen as the top student, as nominated by teachers. So there is some separation between PERFECT and Perfect.

So she is Queen of the World!

[ASUHATER!]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

[Longhorned]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

College is waaaaay easier than high school. College is like sugar mountain. You don't even have to deal with your parents.

As for GPA's, all I know is that college students are horrified when they get a "B". Apparently I'm still in the stone age in that regard, and it doesn't go over well.

"What do I have to do to get an 'A' in his class? I come to almost every lecture and do almost all of the assignments. What the hell is he looking for?"

[ASUHATER!]

Well college and high school are both equally easy parts of life.

[JMarkJohns]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

College is waaaaay easier than high school. College is like sugar mountain. You don't even have to deal with your parents.

As for GPA's, all I know is that college students are horrified when they get a "B". Apparently I'm still in the stone age in that regard, and it doesn't go over well.

"What do I have to do to get an 'A' in his class? I come to almost every lecture and do almost all of the assignments. What the hell is he looking for?"

My students get so pissed at me. I always have a few exams, though I allow one front/back notecard for notes, but my exams are never easy, as I strive for a mean score of 70. They rage against my questions, and then I remind them they had a cheat sheet.

I always have students in Photography pissed at me. They're like "what, my blurry picture of a car bumper isn't an "A"?" ... And I love the students who miss classes without reason, then magically appear with 4 weeks left wanting to know how they can change their earned F into a B, because an A is too much to ask for, but a C is somehow unfit.

Or that because it's a 100-level class that the work should be both easy and less in volume.

I've always thought 100-200 level should be the hardest, most rigorous.

[gumby]

Judging from his catalog of classes in engineering, it won't be easy. Plus, he's competing with many foreign students to get into a major that has a limiited number of slots.

[Longhorned]

There's always art history. You don't even have to compete for women in art history.

[97cats]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

funny -- every school here in California ended this week or last too......maybe Arizona has the abnormal early ending school year?

did you ever consider that?

[ASUHATER!]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

funny -- every school here in California ended this week or last too......maybe Arizona has the abnormal early ending school year?

did you ever consider that?

No I'm pretty sure the super late ending is less common, especially now in the days of year round school. I'm used to everything from elementary school to the university ending on average around may 20. Latest I ever finished public school growing up was like may 30th

[Bruins01]

LAUSD's last day was June 4th. Just a single data point.

[OSUCat]

Dublin Ohio schools had a total of 222 valedictorians. One school alone had 96.

[97cats]

Holy late ending school year batman.

Congrats to him though. The easy part of life is over.

funny -- every school here in California ended this week or last too......maybe Arizona has the abnormal early ending school year?

did you ever consider that?

No I'm pretty sure the super late ending is less common, especially now in the days of year round school. I'm used to everything from elementary school to the university ending on average around may 20. Latest I ever finished public school growing up was like may 30th

you're "pretty sure" based on what?

where have you lived other than Tucson?

[scumdevils86]

The majority of states in the southwest and southern US have school that ends in May. Ending in June is typically a northern or east coast thing from what I have seen. I've talked to people from all over the country and it varies but it seems more and more places have more year round schedules with shorter summers (like 8 weeks).

[97cats]

well California and Washington end in June -- i lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland before we moved to AZ and they all ended in June as well.

i however, have never lived in the South.

[scumdevils86]

I know Tucson as a whole is moving to the more year round schedule. School ends around Memorial Day and starts up again the end of July.

[gumby]

Daughter's 8th-grade class had 72 kids with perfect grades. My daughter won top honors (Prinicpal's Award). My kids are smarter than me.

[scumdevils86]

I can't believe so many schools have kids with perfect GPA's etc. I was salutatorian of my class with like a 4.59 gpa when I graduated. None of the kids in the top 20 of the class had the same GPA. I am sure some of the other 800 kids did though.

[Longhorned]

My high school GPA was slightly less than 2.1, if I remember that right.

[Merkin]

The majority of states in the southwest and southern US have school that ends in May. Ending in June is typically a northern or east coast thing from what I have seen. I've talked to people from all over the country and it varies but it seems more and more places have more year round schedules with shorter summers (like 8 weeks).

June here in central coastal CA. Schools with a large Hispanic population take 4 weeks off for Christmas vacation as many families go to Mexico for the holidays. Schools used to be closed for 2 weeks but the families would be gone for 4 weeks anyway so the schools adjusted and extended the school year. My wife was out June 12th this year.

[UAEebs86]

Here in Vail the kids go close to year round. Only about 7 weeks off from end of May to mid July, with 2-3 week breaks in fall, winter, and spring. Previously we were in Chandler which was on almost the same schedule.

[ASUHATER!]

Lotta schools nationwide are moving to year round. Would've liked it much more as a kid personally. Still was the traditional calendar when I was in elementary and junior high. School started around August 20-25 and ended the last week of May with 2 weeks off in late December and one in March. By high school though the start date had shifted to like August 10 with everything else being the same as before.

[gumby]

I would prefer year-round. Get to vacation in seasons other than summer and Christmas without pulling kids from school. Less review needed, too.

[ASUHATER!]

I would prefer year-round. Get to vacation in seasons other than summer and Christmas without pulling kids from school. Less review needed, too.

Vacations almost anywhere during a fall break in early October would be really cheap and fun since it's pretty much good weather everywhere.

[Merkin]

I would prefer year-round. Get to vacation in seasons other than summer and Christmas without pulling kids from school. Less review needed, too.

My kids were in year round school in elementary school. It was absolutely great going to Disneyland and other places mid week in March and/or November to beat the crowds.

[MrBug708]

Most schools around here, including my own, ended by June 12th. A couple districts ended a week later. A few others ended in May. Most high schools seem to want to start earlier so they can have the semester end by Christmas Break instead of the second or third week in January. My wife teaches in Fullerton and they were done June 2nd. My sister teaches in Virginia and most schools where there is a chance of snow, end later because possible snow days. Despite being in education, I wouldn't know what a lot of areas are doing because each district acts as their own entity and chooses when they want to go on break. Around here (SGV), most of the districts tend to have spring break somewhere in March, while my particular district still chooses to take an "Easter Break", including give Good Friday off. We also got the whole week of Thanksgiving off this past year because working two days was pretty useless for the students. Glendale USD gives three weeks off for Christmas (or they did) because Armenian Christmas is in January and student enrollment was terrible that first week back. In my district, if they wanted to change the start/end date, they'd need to bargain it into the contract. The district couldn't just snap their fingers and move the date because "the region is trending that way". About 15 years ago, they had year-round school and decided they didn't like that idea.