Is it legal for my High School to just start passing students?

Public schools are notorious for pushing students through to graduation. Even here in Ct, where we're supposed to have such a great education system, it happens. Whether or not its legal however, depends on the state. Many states are passing new legislation to prevent this from happening.

They can't however, force a student to take classes that aren't required in the school curriculum. Go to your principal and flat out refuse to take the classes. If you need to remind him that unless he plans on changing the core curriculum to require everyone to take AP Bio and Calc, he can't force you to do anything.

Edit: I've taken the liberty of researching the graduation requirements for public highschools in Texas. Interesting enough, not only can your principal not force you to take AP Calculus, he can't force you to take Calculus at all. At most he can only require you to take academic level geometry.

How old are you? You could always drop out and get your GED.

No Child Left Behind is slowly stripping away teacher autonomy, Im afraid. I am in Florida and we are beginning to have to give state a designed test at the end of the year for every subject to see how we teach (not how well students learn, mind you). We have a State graduation exam that gets more attention than our individual subjects most of the time.

Your school wants you in AP classes so they get the money. Is there a community college nearby where you could dual enroll? This way you get high school and college credit and do not have to pass an AP test for college credit. Colleges will certainly "smile" on that as I would think your parents also.

Also, a grade of 67-69 is passing at my high school. In fact anything above 60 is passing. Some students are moved along, but this usually happens in the lower grades. This passing a student who didnt meet standards was one of the main reasons that No Child Left Behind was implemented.

DOnt know what "legal" recourse you have though as a minor.

well, you can get a petition going, gather other people, check out the legality of it in your state, and oppose it. Make posters or just small things. I think they cannot put you in an AP class without parental consent, depends on what state you are in. If you get good enough grades, I think they can though. If you get all A's and no B's or below, you are probably going into that AP class, but you should be able to decide, it is YOUR education after all, not the schools. If you REALLy dont want it (getting into parents helping you) your parents can sign a form taking you out of the AP class, not that i'm a nerd or anything, but I would like an AP class, so I can get into college!

Good luck, hope you get out of it!

Legal - probably in the state you are in.

Ethical - no. But the schools are under so much pressure to graduate students and shove them out the door, as well as get the GPA and passing rates up that now all they teach is the test, not what you need to know.

You should contact a lawyer and ask these questions. There have been several lawsuits over the last few years on these very issues.

Most lawyers will give you an initial consultation for a low fee, or even free.

Without knowing what state you are in I can't do more research on your area.

Good luck.

Zeba

http://www.jigsawaday.com/

Most of these things are legal because of the NCLB laws.

These are the dirty tricks they do and can say it's all legal because of NCLB law.

Teachers have to pass the kids on anyway without them learning anything. Because, NCLB law mandates that teachers have to teach a specific amount of things in a specific amount of time. If the kids don't understand in that time period, OH WELL!

They pass them on thru the assembly line to get ready for the next bunch to feed info into so they can get more money!!

AND teachers can not teach what they want to anymore. THe gov't is now telling them WHAT to teach, WHEN to teach, HOW to teach.

The gov't is violating it's OWN laws because the federal law states that education laws are to be governed by the states.

BUT with NCLB, it is NOW the FEDERAL gov't coming in and telling teachers how, what and when to teach.

As far as forcing you to take specific classes, go to your state dept of education website and look for 'graduation requirements'. THis will list each class that you HAVE to take in order to graduate. If these classes you are talking about are NOT on this list, then no one can force you to take them.

Sorry to say that you can't fix any of this without your parents. Schools just ignore the schools.

What you could do is print out your states graduation requirements and take it to the principal and tell him you are NOT going to take these classes because he is VIOLATING the states LAWS.

He should change his mind because if he doesn't then he'll know you will have something to file complaints about.

There is little that you can do if your parents agree with the school./

Yes it is legal and may be good.

yes of course