The Scholastic Compromise between Quality and Quantity

By Jonathan Lam on 12/22/15

Tagged: the-homework-life the-homework-life-opinion

Previous post: Unquantifiable "Smart"
Next post: Quick Posting Debugging

You simply cannot have the best of both worlds, or too much of a good thing.

In terms of school, this means the difference between the amount of schoolwork and the ability to which you can complete them. In the past this was no bother, but in these last two years (of high school), the strain is starting to be felt. We were introduced to our first Honors course (H. Algebra I) in the eighth grade; we had the options to Honors Geometry and Honors Biology in freshman year; and now, as a sophomore, there's the choice to Advanced English II, Advanced Spanish IV, Honors Algebra II, and Honors Chemistry. But that's all do-able. And the curved GPA (+1 on each Honors course) doesn't hurt either.

but what about next year? Junior year of high school is supposed to be the most difficult. Amongst Honors Spanish 5 and Honors Precalculus, there are many AP (advanced placement) options. Unlike the previous years, there are more AP courses than a person can take at one time (i.e., previously it was possible to take all of the highest level courses in every subject). But for that perfectionist or nerd that I mentioned in that previous post, simply acing the top class(es) is not so easy anymore — and, in addition, you physically cannot take them all!

Unless, of course, you're Hermoine.

This new world of choice, or lowered self-confidence when you don't have the ability to take every class you want to, worries me to no end. It's been said that three AP's are a mental limit, so I guess I'll shoot for that! Meanwhile, AP Music Theory, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Computer-Science Self-Study (which I think exists?), and more will have to wait. ☹ Those are to be left for next year's decisions …