Education challenges

[Dogderf]

Greetings.

 

I have touched on this topic before, but the time is fast-approaching and I still don't have all the answers. My SO's 17-year old daughter is almost through high school and will be arriving in the US in about two weeks. After all she has experienced in the schools in China, now it seems she will have to struggle to "catch up" in order to graduate. That is, I am told, she will need to have several courses in American History, American Literature, American Government, English, etc., etc. Has anyone had a similar experience with this? I am disappointed and I am sure the daughter will be as well. To think that if she had only stayed in China a few more months, she would have graduated on time. I feel like I have penalized her by taking her away from completing school on time. Any suggestions would be appreciated, but I don't think there's much that can be done.

 

Thanks.

Fred

[frank1538]

There don't seem to be many alternatives that avoid having to study English, American History, etc. Even if she finished high school in China, applying to an American university will likely require demonstrated proficiency in these area as well as good SAT reading scores. For example, the University of Georgia's admissions policy for regular students requires acedemic credits in English and social studies, and the admissions policy for foreign students requires proficiency in English and a third party evaluation of the foreign acedemic cirriculum to determine if it passes muster.

 

Jingwen's daughter was too old for high school, so we explored GED as an alternative. Here's Georgia's link to its GED program, and you will note that there is testing that covers English, social studies, and writing.

 

http://www.dtae.tec.ga.us/adultlit/ged.html

 

The one nice thing about the GED program is that the classes offered focus almost exclusively on mastering the skills needed to take the test, but the program does require proficiency in English.

 

For all intents and purposes, a GED is as good as a high school diploma when applying to college.

 

We enrolled Jingwen's son in the public school's ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) program which also focuses on those subjects that are a bit unique to the US like American history, etc. and which were not offered in the foreign country but with an understanding that the student is not totally fluent in the English language or may not have had enough formal education in his/her home country. You might want to explore this as an alternative to enrolling your SO's daughter in regular high school classes.

 

We couldn't afford it, so we didn't explore any private school alternatives.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Great info Frank. Thanks. Beneficial to all of us whose partners have school aged children that are either in, or coming to America.

[Dogderf]

There don't seem to be many alternatives that avoid having to study English, American History, etc.  Even if she finished high school in China, applying to an American university will likely require demonstrated proficiency in these area as well as good SAT reading scores.  For example, the University of Georgia's admissions policy for regular students requires acedemic credits in English and social studies, and the admissions policy for foreign students requires proficiency in English and a third party evaluation of the foreign acedemic cirriculum to determine if it passes muster.

 

Jingwen's daughter was too old for high school, so we explored GED as an alternative.  Here's Georgia's link to its GED program, and you will note that there is testing that covers English, social studies, and writing. 

 

http://www.dtae.tec.ga.us/adultlit/ged.html

 

The one nice thing about the GED program is that the classes offered focus almost exclusively on mastering the skills needed to take the test, but the program does require proficiency in English.

 

For all intents and purposes, a GED is as good as a high school diploma when applying to college.

 

We enrolled Jingwen's son in the public school's ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) program which also focuses on those subjects that are a bit unique to the US like American history, etc. and which were not offered in the foreign country but with an understanding that the student is not totally fluent in the English language or may not have had enough formal education in his/her home country.  You might want to explore this as an alternative to enrolling your SO's daughter in regular high school classes.

 

We couldn't afford it, so we didn't explore any private school alternatives.

172733[/snapback]

Frank:

 

Great feedback. You sound like a teacher-the info you provided should help. if nothing else, it makes me feel better that there is another option.

 

Thanks.

 

Fred

[chinadave2001]

I am a veteran ESL history teacher in a public school. Call the school in question and discuss this with a guidance counselor. ESL students are frequently not required to meet the same conditions to graduate. They may even just allow her to graduate with her class and I think the intensive experience of being in school would be terrific for her English.

Edited November 30, 2005 by chinadave2001 (see edit history)

[Trigg]

I am a veteran ESL history teacher in a public school. Call the school in question and discuss this with a guidance counselor. ESL students are frequently not required to meet the same conditions to graduate. They may even just allow her to graduate with her class and I think the intensive experience of being in school would be terrific for her English.

172755[/snapback]

Right, in many states ESL staus has the same staus as special education, therefore they can bypass some requirements. Don't worry too much about college requirements as they can ussualy be bypassed by first attending a community or junior college then transferring credits to a full blown univerisity---having never gone to highschool, thats how i did it!!

[Martytb]

My daughter is 18. She arrived in April, 05 and we enrolled her in the local high school for 11th grade.

Fortunatley, she did not complete her middle school in China (she had two months to go). Had she finished she would not have been elligable to attend public shool in Florida. This may not be the case in other states, I don't know.

We put her in 11th grade so she could establish a course history and GPA to help her with college, and possible scholarships.

 

Don't think for one minute that she will be playing catchup in the US school system. To her it will seem like a cinch.

To date YingLu has a 3.8 GPA and is on the honor roll.

I think it's her attitude more than anything else that helps her get A's in American History and her two ESL classes. She pays attention and shows respect to the teachers. Her math class is a breeze. She doesn't use the calculator that we were required to buy. Finishes the problems faster than the kids using them, and blows me away with how much she retains.

 

My advice: Don't finish school in China. Enroll in public school as soon as possible. And, of course, submit for her AOS as soon as possible.