10th Grade Board Exams in America

Did he know when to use the indefinite articles?

Actually knowing the "rules" you have in mind, DD, has nothing whatsoever to do with being a great writer. All great writers didn't follow the "rules" that you were almost certainly taught. They broke them with great frequency for one very obvious reason, they weren't rules of the English language.

But I see the old canard about "knowing the rules well enough ..." was firmly fixed in your mind.

That's one of the many aphorisms those types of teachers would mouth in order to allow them escape from the many conundrums one gets into by offering false anything about any topic..

He, like every native speaker, knows how to use articles, Irishk, [any relation to LittleK?], but as for the grammar, I'm sure he didn't know much of the rules behind such use.

I am sort - in the opinion of not being socially, mature enough for college. Why does everyone want to hurry things? Give the kids a chance to be kids for a while. High School can be enough pressure academically - forget about college.

Of course there are always some exceptions (which I imagine are made currently). For the average kid - let them be a kid.

I can see this - where the students - I am assuming are still part of their high school class - just taking college level courses.

I read portions of an interesting book recently wherein the author's thesis was that only in the last, roughly 100 years have societies had this idea of "let kids be kids". Kids in the not so distant past didn't have a teenagehood. They were given adult responsibilities at a much earlier age than is currently the case.

He suggests that this new group, 'teens', has only been recently invented, and he offers that it has a lot to do with companies that created what is obviously an immense market.

That's a prescriptive usage. If you can get someone else to go along with you, it's okay.

Exactly. The Gates foundation is one of the primary sponsors. Hardworking students can really get ahead getting two years of college without paying tuition, but they give up a lot of what we consider the high school experience.

On the other side, there is a lot of difference maturity wise between a 16 year old, an 18 year old and a twenty year old. My senior year in college, we had a guy who had skipped two years of high school. We were twenty or twenty one and he was eighteen. He was a nice guy and all and he made a great lab partner/teammate, but he was really awkward socially. There are already issues with 18 year olds being subjected to the freedoms of college life. Will 16 year olds fair better?

Gotcha. :::::Bows to the grammar maven:::::

That's one thing I was wondering about, but I think (again, I need to delve more deeply) the idea is that the kids continue pretty much with the high school experience (live at home, party, etc.) but get two years of college classes/ credit under their belt. THEN they "really" go to college (move out, live in a dorm, etc.)

edit: just read the article again, it was talking about taking classes at community college if that's the route they want to go, or else continuing with college prep classes if they want to go to a more elite college. Nothing is really spelled out about where they'd live. I'd want a 16-year-old at home. That seems to be what they're saying but I'm not sure.

I picked up from the nytimes article, which I read fast, that this idea is apparently rather like the english and other systems, other countries. There will be limited schools doing this, to try it out.

Part of me is all for it for some of the reasons already stated in the thread, and part is chary.. I was a slow type, and didn't really know what I wanted to do when I grew up until I was 30 and then, further, at 40. I had no clue I was interested in art when I was fifteen, much less design. I was college prep channeled, no art class. And I can see troubled kids being channeled to tech schooling as 'not college material' in a kind of failure mode, an odd social thing, in that a lot of tech/shop type stuff leads to at least as productive a life as some academic lives. On the other hand, if the boards weren't taken as "you definitely are not college material, give it up", then I might be less fraught about people not having enough time in their teens to work out their difficulties.

That's one of the things I liked about art and design, once I finally cottoned on to them - you got a product, instead of perhaps endless paper writing about esoterica. I think some of the most interesting people make products of some kind for a living and also have intellectual lives, so I fear some quick separation of those in the middle of growth spurts..

Anyway, very interesting to me.

There is also the proposal going around in Utah about cutting out 12th grade, which I think was quickly modified to that it would be a choice. (no immediate link)

Well they did not have a choice - not only were human lifespans significantly less (thus needing to give childbirth younger), they needed to in order to survive.

Just because something was different 100 years ago - doesn't mean that was better. Humans also didn't see the dentist and have their teeth cleaned regularly a 100 years ago.

All true, Linkat, but there were many good points made in the book. My short precis didn't really point those up very well. It's an interesting read.

Busy today, so this is just a plonk for now (haven't read it yet):

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/a-diploma-in-10th-grade/?WT.mc_id=fb_nyt1132&WT

I am moving from my new school to another school and I will take grade 12 examination to get in to grade 12 and I need some scanned exams papers on Science and Mathematics. Please if anyone could help me get it send it to my e-mail [email protected]

I really need your help please. If you haven't got it just give me some areas on the 12 grade exams clues on exams.

STUDY